A  TRANSIENT  GUEST 


EDGAR  SALTUS 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


IN  MEMORY  OF 
EDWIN  CORLE 


PRESENTED  BY 
JEAN  CORLE 


A  TRANSIENT  GUEST, 

AND  OTHER  EPISODES. 


BY  THE   SAME   AUTHOR. 


THE  PACE  THAT  KILLS. 

A  TRANSACTION  IN  HEARTS. 

KDEN. 

THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  TRISTREM  VARICK. 

Mn.  INCOUL'S  MISADVENTURE. 


THE  ANATOMY  OF  NEGATION. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  DISENCHANTMENT. 


EDGAR   SALTUS 


A   TRANSIENT   GUEST 


OTHER    EPISODES 


BELFORD,  CLARKE  &  CO. 

CHICAGO,  NEW  YORK,  AND  SAN  FRANCISCO 

PUBLISHERS 


London,  HENRY  J.  DRANE,  Lovell's  Court,  Paternoster  Row 


COPVRIGHT,    1889, 

By    EDGAR    SALTUS. 


Press  of 

E.  B    Sheldon  &  Co. 
Neiu  Haven,  Conn. 


TO 


K.   J.   M. 

New  York,  \st  June,  1889. 


2039505 


CONTENTS. 


A  TRANSIENT  GUEST,    .           .  •                  -9 

THE  GRAND  DUKE'S  RUBIES,  .           .          9s 

A  MAID  OF  MODERN  ATHENS,  .           .132 

FAUSTA,          .           .           •  •           .166 


A  TRANSIENT   GUEST. 


I. 

SINCE  the  Koenig  Wilhelm,  of  the  Dutch 
East  India  Service,  left  Batavia,  the  sky 
had  been  torpidly  blue,  that  suffocating 
indigo  which  seems  so  neighborly  that 
the  traveller  fancies  were  he  a  trifle  taller 
he  could  touch  it  with  the  ferule  of  his 
stick.  When  night  came,  the  stars  would 
issue  from  their  ambush  and  stab  it 
through  and  through,  but  the  glittering 
cicatrices  which  they  made  left  it  bluer 
even,  more  persistent  than  before.  And 
now,  as  the  ship  entered  the  harbor,  there 
was  a  cruelty  about  it  that  exulted  and 

9 


io  A   Transient  Guest. 

defied.  The  sun,  too,  seemed  to  menace  ; 
on  every  bit  of  brass  it  placed  a  threat, 
and  in  the  lap  of  the  waters  there  was  an 
understanding  and  a  pact.  Beyond,  to  the 
right,  was  one  long  level  stretch  of  sand  on 
which  the  breakers  fawned  with  recurrent 
surge  and  swoon.  Behind  it  were  the 
green  ramparts  of  a  forest ;  to  the  left  were 
the  bungalows  and  booths  of  Siak ;  while 
in  the  distance,  among  the  hills  and  inter 
vales,  where  but  a  few  years  before  natives 
lurked  beneath  the  monstrous  lilies  and 
clutched  their  kriss  in  fierce  surmise,  a 
locomotive  had  left  a  trail  of  smoke. 

"  Sumatra,  too,  has  gone  the  way  of  the 
world,"  thought  one  who  lounged  on  deck. 

He  was  a  good-looking  young  fellow, 
browner  far  than  he  had  been  when  he  left 
New  York,  and  he  was  garbed  in  a  fashion 
which  would  have  attracted  the  notice  of 


A   Transient  Guest, 


the  most  apathetic  habitue  ot  Narragansett 
Pier.  Save  for  a  waistband  of  yellow  silk, 
he  was  clad  wholly  in  that  dead  white 
which  is  known  as  frontage  •  a  la  crime. 
Had  his  cork  hat  been  decorated  with  a 
canary  bird's  feather,  you  would  have  said 
a  prince  stepped  from  a  fairy  tale.  At  his 
heels  was  a  fox  terrier,  which  he  had  chris 
tened  Zut.  When  he  wished  to  be  em 
phatic,  however,  Zut  was  elongated  into 
Zut  Alors. 

"The  general's  compliments,  sir,  and 
are  you  ready  ?  " 

It  was  the  polyglot  steward  addressing 
him,  with  that  deference  which  is  born  of 
tips. 

Tancred  Ennever — the  only  son  of  Fur- 
man  Ennever,  who,  as  every  one  knows,  is 
head  and  front  of  the  steadiest  house  in 
Wall  Street — turned  and  nodded.  "  Got 


A   Transient  Guest. 


my  traps  up  ?  "  he  asked,  and  without  wait 
ing  for  a  reply  sauntered  across  the  deck. 
He  had  met  the  general — Petrus  van  Lier, 
Consul  of  the  Netherlands  to  Siak — at 
the  Government  House  at  Batavia,  and 
although  the  trip  which  he  had  outlined  for 
himself  consisted,  for  the  moment  at  least, 
in  making  direct  for  that  sultry  hole  which 
is  known  as  Singapore,  yet  the  general  had 
so  represented  the  charms  and  pleasures  of 
Sumatra  that  he  had  consented  to  become 
his  guest.  In  extending  the  invitation  the 
general  may  have  had  an  ulterior  motive, 
but  in  that  case  he  let  no  inkling  of  it  es 
cape. 

And  now,  as  Tancred  crossed  the  deck, 
the  general  stretched  his  hand.  He  was  a 
man  whose  fiftieth  birthday  would  never  be 
feted  again.  He  had  the  dormant  eyes  of 
his  race,  those  eyes  in  which  apathy  is  a 


A  Transient  Guest.  13 

screen  to  vigilance,  and  his  chin  had  the 
tenacity  of  a  rock.  His  upper  lip  was  fur 
nished  with  a  cavalry  moustache  of  in- 
distinctest  gray,  the  ends  upturned  and 
fierce.  In  stature  he  was  short  and 
slim.  It  should  be  added  that  he  was 
bald. 

Though  the  ship  had  barely  halted, 
already  it  was  surrounded  by  prahus  and 
sampans,  the  indigenous  varieties  of  skiff, 
and  among  them  one  there  was  so  trim  it 
might  have  come  from  a  man-of-war.  In 

O 

the  bow  a  fluttering  pennon  proclaimed  it 
a  belonging  of  the  Dutch.  The  coxswain 
had  already  saluted,  and  sat  awaiting  the 
orders  of  his  chief. 

The  general  motioned  with  a  finger,  the 
coxswain  touched  his  forehead,  and  in  a 
moment  the  boat  was  at  the  slanting  lad 
der.  Tancred  and  the  general  descended, 


14  A  Transient  Guest. 

there  was  a  sullen  command,  and  the  oars 
men  headed  for  the  shore. 

"  We  are  so  late  my  people  will  be  wor 
ried,"  confided  the  consul,  as  the  landing 
was  reached.  "  Usually — "  and,  as  he  ran 
on  dilating  on  the  unpunctuality  of  the  ser 
vice,  Tancred  remembered  to  have  heard 
that  his  host  was  about  to  be  married  to 
an  English  widow,  who,  with  her  brother, 
was  then  stopping  at  the  consul's  bunga 
low. 

"Be  still,  Zut,"  ordered  Tancred,  for  the 
dog  was  yelping  like  mad  at  a  fawn-colored 
butterfly  that  floated,  tantalizingly,  just  out 
of  reach.  It  was  as  big  as  a  bird,  and  its 
eyes  were  ruby.  "  Be  still." 

On  the  wharf  a  crowd  of  Malays  and 
Chinese  impeded  the  way,  the  Celestials 
garbed  in  baggy  breeches  and  black  vests, 
the  Malays,  nakeder,  wickeder,  darker,  and 


A  Transient  Guest.  15 

more  compact.  Beyond  was  an  open 
square,  a  collection  of  whitewashed  booths, 
roofed  with  tiles  of  mottled  red,  and  cot 
tages  of  thatched  palm.  In  the  air  was 
the  odor  of  spices  and  cachous. 

Guided  by  his  host,  Tancred  entered  an 
open  vehicle  that  waited  there.  Then, 
after  a  brisk  drive  through  the  town,  a 
long  sweep  through  a  quiet  lane  that  was 
bordered  now  by  rice-fields,  now  by  giant 
trees  festooned  by  lianas  and  rattans,  and 
again  by  orchards  of  fruit  and  betel-nut, 
at  last,  in  a  grove  of  palms,  a  house  was 
reached,  a  one-story  dwelling,  quaint, 
roomy,  oblong,  and  still.  An  hour  later 
the  general  and  his  guest  were  waiting 
dinner  in  the  bale'-bale  of  the  bungalow. 

Presently  from  the  panoplied  steps 
came  the  tinkle  of  moving  feet.  The  gen 
eral  rose  from  his  chair. 


1 6  A  Transient  Guest. 

"  My  future  wife,"  he  announced,  in  an 
aside.  "  Mrs.  Lyeth,"  he  continued,  "  this 
is  Mr.  Ennever." 

She  was  a  woman  such  as  the  midland 
counties  alone  produce,  one  whom  it 
would  be  proper  to  describe  as  queenly, 
were  it  not  that  queens  are  dowds.  She 
just  lacked  being  tall.  Her  hair  was  of 
that  hue  of  citron  which  is  noticeable  in 
very  young  children,  and  it  was  arranged 
in  the  fashion  we  have  copied  from  the 
Greeks,  but  her  features  were  wholly  Eng 
lish,  features  that  the  years  would  remold 
with  coarser  thumb,  but  which  as  yet  pre 
served  the  freshness  and  the  suavity  of  a 
pastel.  One  divined  that  her  limbs  were 
strong  and  supple.  She  held  herself  with 
a  grace  of  her  own,  on  her  cheeks  was  a 
flush,  her  mouth  seemed  to  promise  more 
than  any  mortal  mouth  could  give ;  in 


A   Transient  Guest.  17 

short,  she  was  beautiful,  a  northern  splen 
dor  in  a  tropic  frame. 

Tancred,  who  had  risen  with  the  general, 
stared  for  a  second  and  bowed. 

"  Muhammad's  prophecy  is  realized,"  he 
murmured ;  and  as  Mrs.  Lyeth  eyed  him 
inquiringly,  "  At  sunset,"  he  added,  "  I 
behold  a  rising  sun." 

And  moving  forward  he  took  her  wrist 
and  brushed  it  with  his  lips. 

"  One  might  fancy  one's  self  at  Ver 
sailles,"  Mrs.  Lyeth  replied,  and  sank  into 
a  wicker  chair. 

"  Olympus,  rather,"  Tancred  corrected, 
and  found  a  seat  at  her  side. 

"  H'm,"  mused  the  lady  ;  but  evidently 
nothing  pertinent  could  have  occurred  to 
her,  for  she  hesitated  a  moment  and  then 
graciously  enough  remarked,  "  The  gene 
ral  tells  me  he  knows  your  father." 


1 8  A   Transient  Guest. 

"Yes,  it  may  even  be  that  we  are  con 
nected;  there  was  a  Sosinje  van  Lier  who 
married  an  Ennever,  oh,  ages  ago.  The 
general,  however,  thinks  she  was  not  a 

O  '  * 

relative  of  his." 

"  I  have  forgotten,"  the  general  inter 
jected,  and  glanced  at  his  future  bride. 
"  Is  Liance  never  coming  ?  " 

From  without  came  the  hum  of  insects,  a 
hum  so  insistent,  so  enervating,  and  yet  so 
Wagnerian  in  intensity  that  you  would 
have  said  a  nation  of  them  celebrating  a 
feast  of  love.  Presently  the  murmurs  were 
punctuated  by  the  beat  of  a  wooden  gong, 
and  as  the  reverberations  fainted  in  the 
night,  a  young  girl  appeared. 

The  general  left  his  chair  again. 

"  My  daughter,"  he  announced  ;  and  as 
Tancred  bowed  he  remembered  that  the 
general  had  been  a  widower  before  he  be- 


A  Transient  Guest.  ig 

came  engaged  to  the  divinity  that  sat  at 
his  side. 

"  You're  an  American,  aren't  you  ? "  the 
girl  asked. 

There  was  nothing  forward  in  her  man 
ner  :  on  the  contrary,  it  was  "languid  and 
restrained,  as  though  the  equatorial  sky 
had  warped  her  nerves.  But  her  eyes  had 
in  them  the  flicker  of  smoldering  fire  ;  they 
oeemed  to  project  interior  flames.  Her 
complexion  was  without  color,  unless  in 
deed  olive  may  be  accounted  one.  Her 
abundant  hair  was  so  dark  it  seemed 
nearly  blue.  At  the  corners  of  her  upper 
lip  was  the  faintest  trace  of  down. 
Her  frock  was  like  the  night,  brilliant 
yet  subdued ;  it  was  black,  but  glit 
tering  with  little  sparks ;  about  her  bare 
arms  were  coils  of  silver,  and  from  her 
waist  hung  cords  of  plaited  steel.  She 


2o  A  Transient  Guest. 

looked  as  barbaric  as  Mrs.  Lyeth  looked 
divine. 

"  Yes,"  Tancred  answered,  smilingly  ; 
but  before  he  could  engage  in  further 
speech,  the  general's  "  boy "  announced 
that  dinner  was  served. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  it  there  ?  "  asked 
Mrs.  Lyeth,  whose  arm  he  found  within 
his  own. 

And  as  they  passed  from  the  bale-bale, 
as  an  uninclosed  pavilion  is  called,  to  the 
dining-room  beyortd,  Tancred  answered  : 

"  What  does  one  think  of  the  Arabian 
Nights?" 

But  there  was  nothing  Arabesque  about 
the  meal  of  which  he  was  then  called  upon 
to  partake.  It  began  with  oysters,  rather 
brackish  but  good,  and  ended  with  cheese. 
Save  for  some  green  pigeons  with  their 
plumage  undisturbed,  and  a  particularly 


A   Transient  Guest.  21 

fiery  karri,  it  was  just  such  a  dinner  as  the 
average  diner-out  enjoys  on  six  nights 
out  of  seven.  There  were  three  kinds  of 
French  wine  and  a  variety  of  Dutch  li 
queurs.  During  its  service  the  general  held 
forth,  as  generals  will,  on  the  subject  of 
nothing  at  all.  And  when  the  meal  was 
done,  for  several  hours  the  little  group, 
reunited  in  the  bale'-bale,  exchanged  the 
usual  commonplace  views.  During  that 
interchange  Tancred  kept  himself  as  near 
as  he  could  to  Mrs.  Lyeth,  and  when  at 
last  the  party  broke  up  and  he  found  him 
self  alone  in  his  room  he  drew  a  breath 
which  might  have  been  almost  accounted 
one  of  relief. 

Through  the  open  windows  came  a 
heaviness,  subtle  as  the  atmosphere  of  a 
seraglio.  Beyond,  some  palms  masked  a 
cluster  of  stars,  but  from  above  rained 


A   TransL-ut  Guest. 


down  the  light  and  messages  of  other 
worlds.  In  the  distance  was  the  surge  of 
the  sea,  sounding  afar  the  approach  and 
retreat  of  the  waves.  Beneath,  in  the 
underbrush,  fire-flies  glittered,  avoiding 
each  other  in  abrupt  ziz-zags  and  sudden 
loops  of  flame.  The  moon  had  not  yet 
risen,  but  the  sky  still  was  visibly  blue. 

And  as  Tancred  dropped  on  a  seat  he 
loosened  his  neck-cloth  with  a  thrust  of  the 
thumb.  "  That  claret  was  heady,"  he  told 
himself,  and  with  a  bit  of  cambric  he 
mopped  his  brow.  But  was  it  the  claret  ? 
For  a  little  space  he  sat  gazing  at  the 
invitations  of  the  equator.  In  his  ears 
the  hum  of  insects  still  sounded,  and  to  his 
unheeding  eves  the  stars  danced  their 

O  * 

saraband.  The  sea  seemed  to  beckon  and 
the  night  to  wait. 

Thus  far  his  life  had  been  precisely  like 


A  Transient  Guest.  23 

that  of  any  other  well-nurtured  lad  of 
twenty-two.  He  had  been  educated  at 
Concord,  he  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  ; 
but  during  his  school  and  college  days  the 
refinement  of  his  own  home  had  accom 
panied  him  afar.  He  was  one  of  those 
young  men,  more  common  now  than  a  few 
years  since,  who  find  it  awkward  to  utter 
one  word  that  could  not  be  said  aloud  in 
a  ball-room.  And  in  this  he  was  guided 
less  perhaps  by  good  breeding — for  breed 
ing,  like  every  varnish,  may  cloak  the  coars 
est  fibre — than  by  native  comeliness  of 
thought.  He  shrank  from  the  distasteful 
as  other  men  shrink  from  the  base.  His 
parents  had  had  the  forethought  to  provide 
him  with  two  sisters,  one  a  year  older  than 
himself,  one  a  year  his  junior;  and  these 
girls,  who  at  the  present  hour  suggest  in 
our  metropolitan  assemblies  the  charm  and 


24  A   Transient  Guest. 

allurements  of  a  politer  age,  had  taken 
their  brother  in  hand.  They  had  taught 
him  what  is  best  left  undone,  the  grace  of 
self-effacement,  and  they  had  given  him 
some  breath  of  the  aroma  which  they  them 
selves  exhaled.  To  this  his  parents  had 
added  a  smile  of  singular  beauty,  and 
features  clear-cut  and  sure.  In  short,  his 
people  had  done  their  best  for  him.  And 
now  that  he  was  seeing  the  world  in  that 
easiest  way,  which  consists  in  travelling 
around  it,  his  letter  of  credit  was  not  only 
in  his  pocket,  but  in  his  face  and  manner 
as  well. 

"  I  must  go  to-morrow,"  he  continued. 
And  as  he  tried  to  map  his  departure,  the 
tinkle  of  a  footfall  across  the  hall  routed 
and  disturbed  his  thoughts.  Unsummoned 
there  visited  him  a  melody,  heard  long 
since,  the  accompaniment  of  a  song  of 


A   Transient  Guest.  25 

love.  With  a  gesture  he  forced  it  back. 
Had  he  not  understood — ?  No ;  he  re 
membered  now  there  was  no  boat  from 
Siak  for  several  days.  He  might  engage  a 
prahu,  though,  and  in  it  effect  a  crossing  to 
Perang ;  he  could  even  take  the  train  and 
journey  to  another  place.  Indeed,  he  re 
flected,  he  might  readily  do  that.  And  as 
he  told  himself  this,  from  across  the  hall  a 
tinkle  fainter  than  before  reached  his  ear. 
He  heard  a  whispering  voice,  a  door 
closed,  and  some  one  beat  upon  a  gong  of 
wood.  It  was  midnight,  he  knew. 

He  threw  his  coat  aside  and  stared  at 
the  stars.  They  were  taciturn  still,  yet 
more  communicative  than  ever  before. 
One  in  particular,  that  shone  sheer  above 
the  bale-bale,  seemed  instinct  with  lessons 
and  sayings  of  sooth.  And  to  the  precepts 
it  uttered,  its  companions  acquiesced,  and 


26  A   Transient  Guest. 

smiled.  Everything,  even  to  the  immate 
rial,  the  surge  of  the  sea,  the  trail  of  the 
fire-flies,  and  the  glint  of  a  moonbeam, 
now  aslant  at  his  feet,  conspired  to  coerce 
his  will.  The  very  air  was  alive  with 
caresses,  redolent  with  the  balm  and  the 
odors  of  bamboo. 

Slowly  he  undid  the  lachets  of  a  shoe. 

"  It  is  wrong,"  he  muttered,  and  a 
breeze  that  loitered  answered,  "  It  is 
right."  "  I  will  go,"  he  continued,  and 
the  great  stars  chorused,  "  You  will 
stay." 

Meditatively  still  he  continued  to  dis 
robe  ;  but  in  spite  of  the  stars  and  the 
moonbeams  the  light  must  have  been  in 
sufficient,  for  presently  he  lit  a  candle,  mon- 
ologuing  to  himself  the  while.  And  as  he 
monologued  he  was  aware  of  that  fettering, 
overmastering  force  which  visits  vouth  but 


A   Transient  Guest.  27 

once — the  abnegation  of  self  before  that 
which  is. 

In  that  struggle  in  which  we  lay  our 
arguments  down  and  rejoice  in  defeat  he 
had  wrestled  with  all  the  weakness  of  his 
years.  And  now,  as  he  flung  himself  on 
the  bed,  he  clasped  a  pillow  in  his  arms 
and  sighed.  He  hoped  for  nothing,  he  ex 
pected  nothing  ;  but  it  was  bliss  to  be  con 
quered  and  enchained.  The  contest  was 
done.  During  the  coming  week  his  captor 
would  move  before  him,  a  luring  melody, 
a  clear  accord  sounded  for  his  own 
delight,  and  then  he  would  go,  leaving 
the  melody  undisturbed,  yet  bearing  a 
strain  of  it  to  feed  on,  a  memory  of  endur 
ing  joy. 

From  without  the  hum  of  insects  still 
persisted,  and  the  waves  were  noisier  than 
before.  His  eyes  closed,  and  he  smiled. 


28  A   Transient  Guest. 

For  a  moment  that  may  have  outlasted  an 
hour  he  dreamed  of  the  fabulous  days  in 
which  goatherds  dared  to  fall  in  love  with 
goddesses.  And  such  is  the  advantage 
of  a  classical  education,  that  he  mumbled 
a  line  from  a  Greek  pedant,  another  from 
a  Roman  bore.  In  the  dactyls  and  the 
spondees  he  caught  the  rhythm  of  tinkling 
feet ;  and  as  the  measures  sank  him  into 
deeper  sleep  a  monstrous  beetle  shot 
through  the  casement  and  put  the  candle 
out. 

The  whir  of  wings  disturbed  him  ever 
so  little.  For  an  instant  he  was  bending 
over  sandals,  caressing  a  peplum's  hem. 
Then  all  was  blank. 

"  Tuan  !  Tuan  !  " 

It  was  a  Malay  servant,  hailing 
the  foreign  lord,  admonishing  him  to 
rise. 


A  Transient  Guest.  29 

The  room  was  filled  with  sunlight,  and 
on  a  palm  tree  opposite  Tancred  caught  a 
glimpse  of  a  red  monkey  scratching  his 
knee,  chattering  and  grimacing  at  a 
paroquet. 


II. 

AT  tiffin,  that  noon,  the  general  was 
absent.  It  was  usually  so,  his  daughter 
explained ;  the  duties  of  the  consulate  at 
Siak  claimed  the  clearer  hours  of  the  day, 
and  it  was  only  now  and  then,  on  high  days 
and  festivals,  that  he  permitted  himself 
the  surcease  of  a  siesta  at  home. 

"He  is  indefatigable,"  she  added,  and 
shook  her  peerless  head. 

During  the  morning  Tancred  had 
explored  the  grounds  ;  he  had  idled  on  the 
red-road  and  lost  himself  among  the  invi 
tations  of  a  green  ravine.  A  grove  of 
tamarinds  had  called  to  him,  a  stretch  of 
aroids  had  entreated  him  that  way,  the 
3° 


A   Transient  Guest.  31 

sky  had  imprisoned  him  beneath  a  palm, 
a  brook  had  murmured  to  him  a  lake  had 
coaxed  him  to  its  cool  embrace.  And 
then,  Zut  sniffing  at  his  heels,  he  had 
returned  in  time  for  luncheon  at  the 
bungalow. 

In  pauses  of  the  stroll  he  had  promised 
himself  that  during  the  afternoon  he 
would  endeavor  to  find  an  opportunity  in 
which  to  say  something  of  that  which  was 
on  his  mind.  This,  however,  an  accident 
prevented.  Miss  Van  Lier  announced 
that  she  and  her  future  step-mother  were 
obliged  to  attend  the  funeral  of  a  neighbor, 
a  function  at  which  of  course  it  were  idle 
for  him  to  assist.  He  watched  their 
departure  without  a  protest,  and  gave  a 
few  more  hours  to  the  wonders  of  the 
woods.  When  the  sun  went  down  his 
forbearance  was  rewarded.  The  general 


32  A   Transient  Guest. 

was  detained  at  Siak.  Tancred  and  the 
ladies  dined  as  they  had  lunched — alone. 

That  evening  Mrs.  Lyeth  seemed  even 
more  magnificent  than  the  night  before. 
And  beside  her  the  sultry  insouciance  of 
the  maiden  heightened  the  matron's 
charm.  They  were  sheerly  dissimilar, 
daughters  of  antipodal  climes  and  race — 
the  one  loquacious  and  at  ease,  the  other 
taciturn  and  absorbed.  But  it  was  in  eyes 
they  differed  most.  Those  of  the  general's 
bride-elect  were  moist  as  some  blue  flower 
plucked  at  dawn  ;  the  dew  seemed  still 
upon  them.  Those  of  the  general's 
daughter  were  sidereal,  not  white  nor 
cobalt,  but  something  that  combined  the 
two.  To  a  lapidary  they  would  have  sug 
gested  gems. 

As  Tancred's  attention  wavered  between 
the  charm  of  the  one  and  the  beauty  of 


A   Transient  Guest.  33 

the  other,  Mrs.  Lyeth  had  been  describing 
some  of  the  surprises  in  which  Sumatra 
abounds  j  but  her  speech  had  been  lost  to 
him,  and  it  was  only  the  rising  inflection 
with  which  she  terminated  a  -phrase  that 
prompted  him  to  reply. 

"  In  the  States,  I  fancy,  you  have  noth 
ing  like  it  ? " 

"  In  the  States,  no ;  but  in  Mexico  I 
believe — " 

And  Tancred  was  about  to  draw  on  his 
imagination  when  a  servant  offered  him 
some  sweets.  He  would  have  let  them 
pass,  but  this  Mrs.  Lyeth  prevented. 

"You  should  try  one,"  she  said. 
"  Liance  "—and  at  this  she  glanced  at  the 
girl — "Liance  is  the  inventor;  she  will  be 
offended  if  you — " 

And,  as  she  again  glanced,  Liance  arched 
her  brows.     At  the  moment  it  occurred  to 
3 


34  A   Transient  Guest. 

Tancred  that  the  relations  between  Mrs. 
Lyeth  and  her  future  step-child  might  be 
a  trifle  strained. 

With  the  aid  of  a  silver  prong  Tancred 
helped  himself  to  a  confection.  It  was 
yellow  of  hue,  and,  he  presently  discov 
ered,  agreeable  to  the  mouth.  It  had  the 
flavor  of  honey  and  of  meal,  but  it  was 
slightly  acid,  as  though  the  rind  of  a  lemon 
had  been  mixed  therewith. 

"  I  will  give  one  to  Zut,  if  I  may,"  he 
said,  and  thereat  he  tossed  one,  which  the 
dog  caught  on  the  fly  and  swallowed  with 
the  discreetest  blink.  And  then,  with  the 
appreciation  of  a  gourmet,  Tancred 
added  : 

"  It  is  excellent ;  may  I  have  another  ?  " 

The  dish  again  was  passed  to  him. 
Before  he  rose  from  the  table  the  majority 
of  the  sweets  had  disappeared.  It  was 


A   2'ransient  Guest.  35 

evident  that  both  master  and  dog  had  a 
taste  for  just  such  comestibles  as  these. 
As  he  devoured  one  and  then  another,  he 
noticed  that  Liance  was  watching  him. 

"  The  general  was  in  Mexico  some  years 
ago,"  Mrs.  Lyeth  added,  inconsequently. 
"  I  have  heard  him  speak  of  the  beauty  of 
the  women.  But  in  New  York  they  are 
more  beautiful  still,  are  they  not  ?  " 

"  Yes,  they  are  pretty  enough,"  Tancred 
answered. 

"  I  hear  they  propose  to  the  men," 
Liance  interjected. 

"  Ah,  that  is  a  libel.  In  leap-year, 
perhaps,  and  in  jest,  such  a  thing  may 
occur,  but — " 

"  They  are  well  behaved,  then  ?  " 

"  Yes,  indeed.  I  remember,  though,  one 
girl — her  name  was — there,  I  have  forgotten 
it.  However,  a  young  fellow  was  evidently 


36  A   Transient  Guest. 

taken  with  her,  and  she,  as  evidently,  was 
taken  with  him.  But  for  some  reason  or 
other  he  never  seemed  to  get  to  the  point. 
One  afternoon,  when  he  was  drinking  tea 
with  her,  the  heat  of  the  room — our 
houses,  you  know,  are  fearfully  hot — must 
have  affected  her.  She  went  off  like  that ! 
The  young  fellow  was  at  his  wits'  end. 
It  may  be  that  he  had  never  seen  anyone 
faint  before.  '  What  shall  I  do  ?  what 
shall  I  do  ? '  he  exclaimed,  and  he  was 
about  to  scream  for  assistance,  when  the 
girl  in  her  swoon  murmured  :  '  Kiss  me.' 
He  did  so  and  she  recovered  at  once. 
H'm — they  were  married  last  spring." 

During  the  telling  of  this  anecdote 
Tancred  noticed  that  the  girl's  eyes  were 
still  on  his.  But  as  the  ultimate  phrase 
dropped  from  him  she  rose  and  left  the 
room. 


A  Transient  Guest.  37 

"  She  is  exquisite,"  Tancred  confided  in 
a  whisper  to  Mrs.  Lyeth.  To  this  that 
lady  assented.  "  But  you — "  he  added, 
and  then  stopped  short. 

"  Let  us  go  to  the  pavilion,  it  is  cooler 
there."  Mrs.  Lyeth  had  risen,  and 
Tancred,  hesitant  still,  followed  as  she  led 
the  way. 

"  But  you,"  he  added  at  last,  "  you  are 
perfect." 

She  had  found  a  seat  and  he  another. 
A  fan  which  she  held  she  unfurled  and 
shut  again  with  a  sudden  click.  For  a 
moment  she  toyed  with  a  fold  of  her  frock, 
but  presently  her  hand  fell  to  her  side. 
He  caught  it  up  and  kissed  the  finger-tips. 
At  once  she  drew  it  from  him. 

'-'  It  is  the  climate  that  has  affected  you," 
she  said,  "  not  I." 

"It  is  you,"  he  muttered,  "  it  is  you." 


38  A   Transient  Guest. 

"  Even  so,  there  let  it  rest." 

"  I  cannot,"  he  insisted  ;  "  I  love  you." 
As  he  spoke  he  started,  startled  at  his  own 
temerity.  And  as  her  eyelids  drooped  he 
tried  to  catch  her  hand  again. 

"  Then,  if  you  love  me,  say  nothing." 
She  had  straightened  herself  and  looked 
him  now  in  the  face.  "  If  the  general 
should  even  imagine — "  A  gesture  com 
pleted  the  sentence. 

Tancred  nodded.  He  seemed  confident 
and  assured.  Evidently  the  general  had 
aroused  no  fear  in  him. 

"  It  was  in  Mexico,"  she  continued. 
"  Liance  was  in  the  cradle.  Her  mother  " 
— and  Mrs.  Lyeth  turned  her  head  and 
looked  cautiously  around — "  her  mother 
was  younger  than  I  am  now.  She  was 
beautiful,  I  have  understood;  more  so  even 
than  her  daughter.  The  general  suspected 


A   Transient  Guest.  39 

that  she  was  flirting  with  the  Austrian 
attache.  He  had  him  out  and  shot  him. 
His  wife  he  drove  to  suicide.  It  is  only 
recently  I  learned  this.  And  yet  it  is  not 
for  that  reason  that  I  fear.  I  have  no 
intention  of  flirting  with  you  ;  you  know 
that.  It  is  because — because — " 

"  Don't  hunt  for  a  reason.  I  am  willing 
to  be  shot." 

Mrs.  Lyeth  hastened  to  laugh,  but  her 
laugh  was  troubled.  It  sounded  thin,  as 
forced  laughter  ever  does.  She  unfurled  her 
fan  again,  and  agitated  it  with  sudden  vigor. 

"  It  may  not  be,"  she  murmured. 

Her  voice  was  so  low  that  even  the 
breeze  did  not  catch  it.  And  now,  as  she 
turned  to  her  companion,  it  seemed  to  him 
that  her  eyes  were  compassionate,  sympa 
thetic  even,  awake  to  possibilities  yet  care 
less  of  result. 


4O  A  Transient  Guest. 

At  the  moment  there  came  to  Tancred 
that  annoyance  which  visits  us  in  dream. 
Before  him  \vas  a  flower  more  radiant  than 
any  parterre  had  ever  produced.  With  a 
reach  of  the  arm  it  could  be  his,  but  his  arm 
had  lost  its  cunning.  Do  what  he  might, 
it  refused  to  move.  And  still  the  flower 
glowed,  and  still  the  arm  hung  pendent 
and  quasi-paralyzed  at  his  side.  It  may 
be — such  things  have  happened — it  may 
be  that  of  the  inward  effort  Mrs.  Lyeth 
marked  some  sign.  She  shut  her  fan 
again,  and  made  as  though  to  rise.  But 
this  movement  of  hers,  like  the  clock  in 
the  fable,  must  have  dissolved  the  spell. 
Abruptly  Tancred  was  on  his  feet. 

"  One  instant,"  he  said.  "There,  you 
can  give  me  that.  Nay,  see,  if  you  wish  to 
-go." 

And  at  this  he  stood  aside,  as  though  to 


A   Transient  Guest.  41 

let  her  pass.  The  magnetism,  however, 
which  youth  possesses,  may  have  coerced 
her.  In  any  event  she  made  no  further 
effort  to  leave ;  she  sat,  her  eyes  a  trifle 
dilated,  a  whiteness  quivering  beneath  the 
lace-work  at  her  neck. 

"  That  is  good  of  you,"  he  added ;  "  I 
have  but  a  word  to  say.  Listen  to  it,  will 
you  ?  I  was  sure  you  would.  Last  night 
— or  was  it  last  night  ? — it  seems  a  year  ago. 
H'm,  there  are  people  whom  we  meet 
— you  must  have  experienced  the  same 
thing — people  that  disturb  us  with  sug 
gestions  of  something  that  has  gone  before. 
When  I  saw  you  last  evening — no,  not 
that ;  but  when  I  heard  your  voice,  there 
came  with  it  a  reminiscence  of  earlier  and 
forgotten  days.  It  was  not  of  the  present 
I  thought,  but  of  a  past  I  remembered  I 
had  dreamed.  It  was  like  a  tangled  skein. 


42  A   Transient  Guest. 

One  after  another  the  threads  unloosed, 
and  as  they  separated  from  each  parting 
knot  a  memory  returned.  You  were  not  a 
stranger,  you  were  a  friend  I  had  lost. 
I  could  have '  sat  with  you,  and  from  yes 
terday  I  could  have  led  you  back  from  one 
horizon  to  another  until  that  posting-house 
was  reached  where  our  destiny  changed 
its  horses  and  our  hands  were  first  un 
clasped." 

This  fine  speech  delivered,  he  looked 
down  and  plucked  at  his  cuff.  And  pres 
ently,  as  he  was  about  to  speak  again,  Mrs. 
Lyeth  raised  her  fan. 

"  After  that  I  have  either  to  thank  you 
or  to  go ! "  Her  voice  was  less  severe 
than  pained,  and  she  seemed  to  retreat  yet 
further  in  her  chair.  "And  I  thank  you," 
she  added,  after  a  pause,  "  but  it  is  you 
that  must  go." 


A   Transient  Guest.  43 

To  this  Tancred  answered  nothing.  He 
contented  himself  with  looking  insubordi 
nate  and  cross. 

"  My  poor  boy ! "  she  murmured,  and 
sighed — or  was  it  a  sigh  ? — a  sound  that 
seemed  to  come  less  from  the  heart  than 
the  spirit.  "  My  poor  boy  !  But  don't  you 
know  that  you  are  absurd  ?  I  have  three 
brothers — one  of  them,  by  the  way,  is  here 
now ;  he  went  down  the  coast  on  Tuesday 
with  some  friends;  he  will  be  back,  though, 
to-morrow  or  the  day  after.  However, 
each  of  my  brothers  has  fallen  in  love  with 
a  woman  older  than  himself,  and  each  of 
them  has  fallen  in  love  again  and  again. 
I  am,  believe  me,  grateful  for  your  homage. 
What  you  have  said  is  enough  to  make  any 
woman  pleased.  And  were  I  younger — 
well,  then,  since  you  will  have  it  so — were 
I  free,  I  would  ask  to  hear  it  until  I  knew 


44  A   Transient  Guest. 

the  words  by  heart.  It  would  be  pleasant, 
that.  Oh,  there  might  be  so  very  many 
pleasant  things  ;  yet  that  is  one  that  may 
not  be.  To-morrow,  the  next  day,  no 
matter,  presently  you  will  go ;  a  week  later 
you  will  find  some  beauty  in  Madras,  and, 
if  you  think  of  me  then,  it  will  be  but  with 
a  smile." 

She  had  risen  at  last,  and  stood  now 
smiling  too.  For  the  life  of  him  Tancred 
could  not  imagine  anything  fairer, 
more  debonair,  nor  yet  more  just  than 
she. 

"  If  I  vex  you,"  he  said,  "  I  will  hold  my 
tongue.  But  at  least  you  might  stay.  I 
will  promise  this — " 

But  whatever  the  intended  promise  may 
have  been  it  remained  unformulated.  In 
the  entrance  of  the  bale-bale'  Liance  had 
suddenly  appeared. 


A   Transient  Guest.  45 

"  It  is  late,  is  it  not  ?  "  Mrs.  Lyeth,  for 
countenance  sake,  inquired. 

The  girl  shrugged  her  shoulders.  A 
gong  in  the  distance  answered  in  her 
stead. 

"  It  is  late,"  Mrs.  Lyeth  announced. 
"We  had  better  go  in." 

She  moved  from  the  pavilion,  and  pres 
ently  all  three  reached  the  house.  The 
hallway  was  unlighted,  a  flicker  from  the 
dining-room  beyond  serving  only  to  make 
the  darkness  more  opaque. 

"Where  is  Atcheh?"  she  asked,  and 
called  the  "boy"  by  name. 

"There,"  said  Tancred,  "let  me  try  to 
find  a  match." 

He  groped  down  the  corridor  to  his 
room  and  in  a  moment  or  two  returned. 
On  the  way  back  he  passed  some  one  he 
took  to  be  Liance. 


A  Transient  Giiest. 


"  I  could  not  find  one,"  he  exclaimed. 

So  well  as  he  was  able  to  make  out,  Mrs. 
Lyeth  had  not  moved.  To  his  speech  she 
answered  nothing.  He  advanced  a  little 
nearer  and  tried  to  take  her  hand  again, 
but  it  eluded  him.  And  in  an  effort  to 
possess  himself  of  it  he  approached  nearer 
still.  Her  face  seemed  to  be  in  the  way ; 
for  one  fleeting  second  his  lips  rested  on  it, 
then  a  noise  of  hoofs  must  have  alarmed 
him,  for  he  wheeled  like  a  rat  surprised. 
And  presently,  after  he  had  reached  his 
room  again,  he  heard  Mrs.  Lyeth  welcom 
ing  her  future  husband  on  the  porch. 


III. 

FROM  his  window  the  next  morning  Tan- 
cred  caught  a  glimpse  of  Mrs.  Lyeth  enter 
ing  the  pavilion  beyond.  He  left  the 
house  at  once  and  hastened  to  join  her  ; 
but  Liance  must  have  preceded  him. 
When  he  reached  the  pavilion  she  was 
already  there.  On  her  head  was  a  hat 
unribboned  and  broad  of  brim,  in  her  hand 
a  basket.  She  struck  Tancred  as  being 
more  restless  than  usual,  but  the  widow 
was  thoroughly  at  ease.  Apparently  the 
episode  in  the  hallway  had  not  disturbed 
her  in  the  least.  For  a  few  moments 
there  was  a  common  indulgence  in  those 
amiable  platitudes  of  which  the  morning 
47 


48  A   Transient  Guest. 

hours  are  prolific,  and  then  Liance  stood 
up. 

"  If  you  are  going  to  the  coppice,  take 
Mr.  Ennever,"  Mrs.  Lyeth  suggested. 
"  He  looks  bored  to  death." 

"  Certainly  I  will,"  the  girl  answered. 

Her  voice  was  cordial  and  her  eyes  and 
mouth  seemed  to  invite.  Tancred,  how 
ever,  did  not  on  that  account  experience 
any  notable  desire  to  accompany  her.  On 
the  contrary,  he  infinitely  preferred  to  re 
main  where  he  was.  But  there  was  no 
help  for  him,  not  even  an  excuse.  He  had 
his  choice  between  going  and  being  down 
right  rude.  Accordingly  he  smiled,  but 
inwardly  he  swore. 

"  Show  him  the  rafflesia,"  Mrs.  Lyeth 
added. 

"  The  what  ?  " 

"  You  shall  see  it;  come." 


A   Transient  Guest.  49 

Liance  turned  and  led  the  way,  and  as 
Tancred  followed  he  marvelled  at  the 
widow's  attitude.  If  he  had  not  kissed  her 
at  all  she  could  not  have  appeared  more 
unconcerned. 

To  the  left  was  a  grove  of  betel-nut 
palms,  to  the  right  a  patch  of  aroids,  broad 
and  leathery  of  leaf.  Save  for  a  whir  of 
pheasants  in  the  distance,  and  the  hum  of 
insects,  the  hour  was  still.  Even  the  sea 
was  silent ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the 
odors  of  strange  plants  Tancred  could  have 
closed  his  eyes  and  fancied  himself  in 
some  New  England  intervale,  loitering 
through  a  summer  noon.  It  needed  but 
the  toll  of  a  bell  to  make  it  seem  a  Sab 
bath.  A  mosquito  alighted  on  his  hand, 
and  he  slaughtered  it  with  a  slap.  Pres 
ently  he  found  himself  in  a  part  of  the 
plantation  which  he  had  not  yet  visited,  a 
4 


50  A   Transient  Guest. 

strip  of  turf,  the  background  defended  by 
trees.  And  there,  in  the  centre,  was  an 
object  such  as  he  had  never  seen  before. 
He  turned  inquiringly  to  Liance ;  her  eyes 
were  on  his  own. 

"  The  rafflesia,"  she  lisped,  and  nodded. 

And  as  he  moved  to  get  a  nearer  view 
she  caught  him  by  the  arm. 

"  Be  careful,"  she  added,  and  warned 
him  with  a  glance. 

But  Tancred  was  not  one  to  fear  the 
immobile  ;  he  moved  yet  nearer  to  it,  the 
girl  hovering  at  his  side.  And  as  he 
moved  there  came  to  greet  him  a  heavy, 
sullen  odor,  a  smell  like  to  that  of  an  acid 
burning  and  blent  with  rose. 

"The  heart  is  poisonous,"  the  girl  con 
tinued  ;  "  don't  touch  it  without  gloves." 

The  admonition,  however,  was  unnec 
essary.  Tancred  was  motionless  with  sur- 


A   Transient  Guest.  51 

prise.  Before  him  was  a  flower,  its  petals 
of  such  consistency  and  of  such  unpleas 
ant  hue  that  they  resembled  huge  slabs  of 
uncooked  veal.  The  chalice  was  deep 
enough  to  hold  two  gallons  of  liquid,  the 
pistil  was  red,  and  the  supporting  stem  was 
gnarled  and  irruptive  with  excrescences. 
In  appearance  it  suggested  an  obese  and 
giant  lily,  grown  in  a  nightmare  and  wa 
tered  with  blood.  It  was  hideous  yet 
fascinating,  as  monstrosity  ever  is.  And 
as  Tancred  stared,  a  page  of  forgotten  bot 
any  turned  in  his  mind,  and  he  remem 
bered  that  he  had  read  of  this  plant,  which 
Sumatra  alone  produces,  and  in  whose 
pistil  lurks  a  poison  swifter  than  the  can- 
tarella  of  the  Borgias,  deadlier  than  the 
essences  of  Locuste. 

The  odor,  more  pungent  now,  drove  him 
back  a  step.     At  the  moment  it  seemed  to 


52  A   Transient  Guest. 

carry  with  it  a  whiff  of  that  atmosphere  of 
creosote  and  tooth-wash  which  is  peculiar 
to  the  dentist's  chair.  And  slaughtering 
another  mosquito,  he  moved  yet  further 
away. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  it  ? "  asked 
Liance. 

"  It  would  hardly  do  for  the  button-hole, 
would  it  ?  "  he  answered. 

The  girl  nodded  appreciatively.  Evi 
dently  she  was  of  the  same  mind  as 
he. 

"  There  are  few  of  them  here,"  she  con 
tinued.  "  This  is  the  only  one  in  Siak, 
but  back  there,"  and  she  pointed  to  the 
mountains,  "  they  are  plentiful.  When  a 
Malay  prepares  for  war  he  slashes  the 
pistil  with  his  kriss.  The  wound  that  that 
kriss  makes  is  death." 

"  H'm,"  mused  Tancred,  with  an  uncom- 


A   Transient  Guest.  53 

fortable  shrug,  "  if  I  happened  to  fall  out 
with  a  Malay — " 

"  Don't." 

The  monosyllable  fell  from  her  like  a 
stone. 

"  I  will  do  my  best,"  he  said. 

She  turned  again  and  led  him  back 
through  the  coppice.  The  air  was  sultrier 
than  ever,  heavy  with  fragrance  and  ener 
vating  with  forebodings  of  a  storm.  And 
now,  as  the  girl  preceded  him,  her  step 
seemed  more  listless  than  before.  She  is 
tired,  he  reflected.  These  noons  are  fierce. 

"You  are  to  be  with  us  some  time,  are 
you  not  ?  "  Liance  asked. 

"  No,  a  day  or  two  at  the  most.  When 
the  next  steamer  goes,  so  must  I." 

"  Could  you  not  stay  longer  ?  "  She 
stopped  and  looked  at  him,  the  little  bas 
ket  swaying  to  and  fro. 


54  A   Transient  Guest. 

"  I  should  like  to,  really  I  should  like  to 
very  much,"  he  replied.  The  episode  with 
Mrs.  Lyeth  was  still  oppressing  him,  and  in 
answer  to  the  oppression  he  added  aloud, 
"  But  perhaps  it  is  better  I  should 
not." 

Liance  lowered  her  eyes,  and  with  the 
point  of  her  shoe  tormented  a  tuft  of 
grass. 

"  Why  ? "  she  asked. 

"  Because — well,  because  I  feel  an  in 
truder." 

The  girl  raised  her  eyes  at  once ,  her 
lips  quivered. 

"  You  are  wrong,  so  wrong." 

And  then,  curiously  enough,  as  such 
things  happen,  Tancred — who  was  not  a 
bit  stupider  than  the  rest  of  us — felt  an 
oracle  within  him.  It  was  more  than  prob 
able,  he  told  himself,  that  widow  and 


A  Transient  Guest.  55 

maid,  being  nearly  of  an  age,  had,  in  their 
Sumatran  idleness,  become  the  fastest 
friends  ;  and  at  once,  with  that  logic  which 
is  peculiar  to  those  that  love,  he  decided 
that,  being  friends,  they  must  be  confidantes 
as  well,  and  he  concluded  that  two  fair 
heads  had  come  together  and  determined 
he  should  remain.  That  woman  is  vari 
able,  was  a  song  he  knew  by  heart,  and  he 
also  knew  that  woman  is  apt  to  do  one 
thing  and  mean  another — to  dismiss,  for 
instance,  the  very  man  whom  she  wishes 
most  at  her  feet. 

These  ruminations,  however  long  in  the 
telling,  did  not  in  reality  outlast  a 
moment's  space.  It  was  all  very  clear 
to  him  now,  and  his  blood  pulsed 
quickly. 

"  If  you  tell  me  so,  I  must  indeed  be 
wrong,"  he  answered.  "  And  let  me  add," 


56  A   Transient  Guest. 

he  continued,  impetuously,  "it  is  a  boon  to 
know  it." 

To  his  face  a  flush  had  come,  and  his 
eyes  were  eager.  He  had  never  been 
accounted  anything  else  than  good-looking, 
but  now  he  was  attractive  as  well. 

"  You  will  not  be  in  haste  to  go, 
then  ? " 

"  In  haste  to  go — "  His  face  com 
pleted  the  sentence.  "  Tell  her  from  me," 
he  was  about  to  say,  when  from  the  girl's 
loosening  fingers  the  basket  fell ;  she 
drooped  like  a  flower,  her  eyes  half 
closed,  and  he  had  but  the  time  to  hold 
out  his  arm  when  she  sank  unconscious 
on  it. 

The  grass  seemed  an  inviting  couch,  and 
very  gently  he  let  her  from  him.  "  It  is 
the  heat,"  he  reflected,  and  kneeling  at  her 
side  he  took  her  small  hand  and  beat  it 


A   Transient  Guest.  57 

with  his  own.  "What  shall  I  do?"  he 
wondered.  Her  cheeks  were  colorless, 
though  her  lips  were  red,  and  as,  in  his 
perplexity,  he  gazed  at  them,  he  saw  them 
move.  "Kiss  me,"  they  seemed  to  say. 
Her  eyes  opened  and  she  smiled. 

And  still  he  stared.  "  Merciful  heav 
en  ! "  he  thought ;  "  she  thinks  I  am  in  love 
with  her;"  and  feigning  that  the  invitation 
had  passed  unheard  he  sprang  to  his  feet. 

"Help  me,"  she  murmured,  smiling 
still ;  and  as  he  bent  again  to  aid  her, 
before  him  in  the  coppice  stood  Mrs. 
Lyeth.  Already  the  girl  was  on  her  feet. 
Whether  she  had  been  aware  of  Mrs.  Lyetlrs 
approach,  who  shall  say?  She  patted  out  a 
rumpled  fold  of  her  frock,  and  picking  the 
basket  up,  glanced  over  at  her  father's 
choice. 

"  I  almost  fell,"  she  announced.     "  Mr. 


5 8  A   Transient   Guest. 

Ennever    was    gallant    enough    to    prevent 
me." 

In  single  file  all  three  then  returned  to 
tiffin  at  the  bungalow. 


IV. 

THE  afternoon  slipped  by  like  a  chapter 
in  a  fairy  tale.  It  promised  but  it  did  not 
fulfil,  and  at  dinner  the  champagne  spar 
kled,  but  the  conversation  was  flat.  When 
the  cloth  was  removed  the  general  mani 
fested  a  desire  to  look  over  some  papers, 
and  Tancred  and  the  ladies  retreated  to 
the  pavilion  beyond.  Yet  even  there  the 
wheels  of  talk  were  clogged.  Mrs.  Lyeth 
indeed  discoursed  amiably  enough  on  the 
subject  of  nothing  at  all,  and  now  and  then 
Liance  interjected  an  apposite  sally ;  but 
Tancred  was  taciturn.  He  divided  his 
time  between  biting  his  moustache  and 
bidding  Zut  be  still.  And  when  at  last 

59 


60  A   Transient  Guest. 

through  some  channel  of  thought  Mrs. 
Lyeth  anchored  herself  in  the  shallows 
of  Anglo-Saxon  verse,  for  a  moment  the 
young  man  fancied  that  the  girl  was  about 
to  go.  Liance  made  a  movement,  but 
whether  some  signal  from  her  future  step 
mother  detained  her,  or  whether  of  her 
own  accord  she  reconsidered  her  purpose, 
Tancred  was  unable  to  decide.  The  girl 
resumed  her  seat,  and,  one  arm  extended 
on  the  woodwork,  the  other  pendent  at 
her  side,  her  feet  crossed,  her  head  thrown 
back,  she  sat  staring  at  the  stars  in  that 
abstracted  attitude  which  powder  and  shot 
are  alone  qualified  to  disturb. 

There  is  much  in  an  opportunity  that 
might  be  and  is  not.  In  recollection  it 
appears  more  fecund  in  possibilities  than 
any  other  opportunity  ever  enjoyed.  And 
later  on,  when  Tancred,  without  having 


A  Transient  Guest.  61 

had  the  opportunity  to  exchange  in  private 
so  much  as  a  word  with  Mrs.  Lyeth,  found 
himself  in  his  room,  he  ravened  at  fate  and 
at  his  own  ill-luck.  Nothing  that  he  could 
imagine  would  have  been  sweeter  to  him 
than  to  have  sat  the  evening  through  alone 
with  that  human  flower.  There  would  have 
been  no  need  of  speech  ;  the  languors  of 
the  night,  the  caress  of  the  stars,  the  scent 
of  palms  and  of  orchids,  the  accent  of  the 
waves  beyond,  these  things  would  have 
spoken  for  him  more  subtly  than  words 
could  do.  Through  their  silence  the 
breeze  would  have  whispered,  and  who 
does  not  know  what  a  breeze  can  say? 
Though  they  sat  apart,  the  stars  that  the 
old  gods  used  as  go-betweens  were  there 
to  join  their  hands.  They  might  be  timid, 
but  is  not  the  surge  of  the  sea  a  call  that 
stirs  the  pulse  ?  And  the  palms  had  their 


62  A   Transient  Guest. 

secrets  to  tell,  and  they  would  have  told 
them,  too ;  nay,  the  very  fire-flies  would 
have  conspired  together  and  made  the 
night  more  dark.  And,  instead  of  a  com 
munion  such  as  that,  there  had  been  an 
aimless  chit-chat,  an  awkwardness  that  was 
sentient,  and  an  embarrassment  terminated 
only  by  a  chill  "Good-night."  Truly  Zut, 
who  had  treed  a  hedgehog,  was  to  be 
envied.  His  evening  at  least  had  not 
been  squandered  and  misspent. 

The  morrow  differed  from  the  day  pre 
ceding  merely  in  this,  that  not  for  one 
instant  during  it  did  Tancred  have  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  either  Mrs.  Lyeth 
or  Liance  alone.  After  tiffin  they  were 
inseparate.  And  Tancred,  who  had  made 
plans  for  the  afternoon,  then  made  plans 
for  the  evening.  But  the  hope  which 
buoyed  him  was  idle.  The  evening  which 


A   Transient  Guest.  63 

followed  was  a  counterpart  of  the  one  that 
had  gone  before,  save  in  this,  the  general, 
having  no  papers  to  look  over,  held  forth 
as  generals  will,  and  Zut  searched  for  a 
hedgehog  in  vain.  That  night,  for  the 
first  time,  Tancred  entered  fully  into  the 
feelings  of  Tantalus  and  those  of  Sisyphus 
too.  He  was  dumbly  exasperated,  the 
more  so  perhaps  in  that  he  divined  that  to 
one  cleverer  than  he  no  obstacle  would 
exist.  If  a  woman  has  an  ear,  and  as  a 
rule  women  have,  there  is  always  a  way  to 
get  at  it.  Unfortunately  for  Tancred,  the 
way  in  this  case  was  by  no  means  clear, 
and  what  helped  to  confuse  him  was  the 
fact  that  he  was  impatient  to  find  it  at 
once,  no,  but  there  and  then,  and  without 
delay.  And  as  in  his  exasperation  he 
clashed  his  head  against  the  pillow,  he  told 
himself  that  he  had  been  abrupt,  that  he 


64  A   2}~ansienf  Guest. 

had  unmasked  his  batteries  toe  soon,  that 
he  had  frightened  where  he  had  meant  to 
charm.  Of  Liance  he  gave  no  thought 
whatever,  except  to  decide  that  she  was  a 
nuisance.  And  such  is  the  selfishness  of 
man,  that  he  wished  she  would  topple  over 
again  and  sprain  a  joint ;  in  short,  that 
anything  might  happen  which  would  keep 
her  to  her  room  and  out  of  the  way  of  Mrs. 
Lyeth.  The  idea  that  the  general's  bride- 
elect  might  be  keeping  her  purposely  at 
her  side  was  one  that  never  occurred  to 
him.  She  is  a  nuisance,  he  decided,  and 
dismissed  her  from  his  thoughts. 

Before  he  fell  asleep  his  mind  was  clear 
as  to  one  thing;  to  wit,  that  in  a  small 
household  it  is  more  difficult  to  be  alone 
with  one  particular  person  than  in  a  house 
hold  where  there  are  many.  Whether  he 
was  correct  or  not  is  a  matter  of  the  small- 


A   2'ransient  Guest.  65 

est  possible  importance.  The  next  morn 
ing,  when  Atcheh  appeared  with  coffee  and 
fruit,  he  was  aware  that  he  had  wandered 
through  an  assortment  of  dreams  in  which 
the  rafflesia  and  the  general  were  con 
fusedly  connected ;  at  one  moment  the 
general  had  changed  into  that  unhallowed 
flower,  at  another  the  rafflesia  had  bristled 
with  the  moustaches  of  his  host.  And  as 
he  rose  from  these  fancies  to  his  coffee  he 
encountered  a  scheme  which  he  detained 
and  examined.  It  was  not  particularly 
shrewd,  yet  at  the  moment  it  seemed  lumi 
nous  to  him.  It  was  to  the  effect  that  if 
he  were  inhibited  from  private  speech  with 
Mrs.  Lyeth,  there  was  no  reason  in  the 
world  why  he  should  not  write.  And  as  he 
mused,  from  the  porch  beyond  rose  the 
sound  of  her  voice. 

He  was  too  far  away  to  hear  what  she 
5 


66  A   Transient  Guest. 

was  saying,  and,  parenthetically,  had  he 
been  nearer  he  would  not  have  listened. 
But  now  the  intonation,  the  trailing  accent 
of  her  speech  affected  him  as  a  balm. 
The  irritation  faded,  as  irritation  ever  does  ; 
he  found  some  paper,  and  as,  to  the  accom 
paniment  of  her  voice,  he  prepared  to  write 
one  of  those  letters  in  which  punctuation 
is  disregarded  and  sequence  of  idea  forgot, 
he  heard  her  waving  inflection  cut  by  a 
harsher  note.  It  was  the  general,  he 
knew.  For  the  moment  he  wondered  why 
he  had  not  already  gone  to  the  consulate, 
but  presently  the  noise  of  hoofs,  the  creak 
of  wheels,  a  shrill  cry,  and  the  hiss  of  a 
whip  seemed  to  announce  that  the  convey 
ance  which  took  the  consul  each  morning 
to  Siak  was  at  the  door. 

Tancred's  window  did  not  give  on  the 
road.,  but  on  the  coppice  and  the  pavilion, 


A  Transient  Guest.  67 

yet  when  again  he  caught  the  creak  of 
wheels  it  demanded  little  imagination  on 
his  part  to  picture  the  general  sitting  bolt 
upright  in  a  gharry,  driving  to  the  sun- 
smitten  town  beyond.  And  as  the  clatter 
of  hoofs  fainted  in  the  distance,  Tancred 
took  up  the  pen  again.  The  letter  which 
he  then  succeeded  in  producing  was  one 
similar  to  what  we  have  all  of  us  written 
and  all  of  us  received — a  clear  call  of  love, 
in  which  the  words  are  less  jotted  than 
shaken  from  the  end  of  the  pen.  Its  tran 
scription  here  is  needless. 

A  love-letter  which  can  pleasure  anyone 
save  the  recipient  proceeds  not  from  the 
heart  but  the  head.  Moreover,  when  Tan 
cred  began  it  he  had  not  the  faintest  idea 
what  he  intended  to  say,  and  when  it  was 
finished  he  did  not  remember  what  he  had 
written.  Oh,  sweethearts  and  swains ! 


68  A   Transient  Guest. 

mind  ye  of  this  :  when  a  love-letter  differs 
from  that,  it  emanates  from  a  poet  or  a 
fraud.  Tancred  was  neither.  He  was 
simply  a  young  man  suddenly  enthralled 
by  the  charm  of  a  woman  older  than  him 
self.  He  intended  no  wrong,  and  if  you 
or  I  or  any  other  implacable  moralist  had 
happened  that  way  and  told  him,  as  would 
have  been  our  duty,  that  he  was  betraying 
the  sacredest  of  trusts,  the  confidence  of  a 
host,  he  would  have  exhibited  the  surprise 
of  a  child  frowned  at  for  innocent  prattle. 
Bear  with  him  then  ;  of  wrong  he  intended 
none.  It  is  the  essence  of  crime  that  it  be 
committed  with  malice  aforethought,  that 
the  intention  to  commit  it  be  clear.  In  the 
present  case  the  intention  was  wholly  lack 
ing.  Tancred  was  carried  along  by  one  of 
those  unreasoning  impulses  which  the  psy 
chologist  recognizes  and  cannot  explain. 


A   Transient  Guest.  69 

And  that  impulse,  after  throwing  him  at 
Mrs.  Lyeth's  feet  and  dictating  a  letter  to 
her,  left  his  conscience  unruffled  and  at 
peace. 

His  pulse,  however,  still  was  stirred. 
And,  the  letter  completed,  he  was  not  in  a 
greater  hurry  to  do  anything  else  than  to 
get  it  safely  in  her  hand.  The  manner  in 
which  this  was  to  be  accomplished  was 
another  matter.  He  might  offer  it  to  her 
in  person,  or  he  might  leave  it  in  her  room. 
He  might  even  watch  his  opportunity  and 
slip  it  into  her  hand  ;  but,  for  that,  he  imme 
diately  reflected  he  would  have  to  wait  the 
opportunity — a  tedious  operation  at  best ; 
and,  moreover,  was  he  not  in  haste  ?  And 
as  he  mused  he  remembered  that  Dugald 
Maule,  a  New  Yorker  like  himself,  finding 
himself  in  similar  strait,  had,  under  the  very 
nose  of  a  duenna,  deliberately  abstracted  a 


70  A   Transient  Guest. 

handkerchief  from  his  inamorata's  pocket, 
and,  wrapping  a  letter  up  in  it,  handed  it 
back  with  the  civilest  inquiry  as  to 
whether  she  had  not  just  let  the  handker 
chief  fall  ?  That  was  a  remarkably  neat 
trick,  Tancred  told  himself,  but  somehow  it 
seemed  to  demand  a  degree  of  assurance 
of  which  he  felt  unpossessed.  Besides,  it 
was  a  trick,  and  as  such  distasteful  to  him. 
And  as  he  twirled  his  moustache,  vaguely 
perplexed,  undecided  in  what  way  to  act, 
determining  that  it  were  better  perhaps  to 
leave  it  all  to  chance,  he  caught  a  glimpse 
of  Mrs.  Lyeth  entering  the  pavilion  alone. 
She  was  in  white  from  head  to  foot,  allur 
ing  as  spring,  and  doubtless  every  whit  as 
fragrant ;  she  moved  easily,  her  body  erect 
and  unswayed,  and  as  Tancred  caught 
sight  of  her  he  would  have  taken  his 
chances  then  and  there,  but  almost  simul- 


A  Transient  Guest.  7 1 

taneously  he  saw  Liance  following  behind. 
In  the  annoyance  he  filliped  forefinger  and 
thumb  together,  and  tried  to  possess  his 
soul  with  patience.  It  was  not  impossible 
that  in  a  moment  the  girl  might  go,  and 
then  his  time  would  come.  Meanwhile  it 
behooved  him  to  be  careful  and  to  remain 
unseen.  But  no,  Liance  must  have  seated 
herself  at  the  other  side  of  the  pavilion, 
for  he  could  hear  Mrs.  Lyeth  address  her, 
and  the  murmurs  of  the  girl's  replies. 
Presumably  they  would  remain  together 
until  tiffin,  and  if  before  tiffin  the  note  was 
not  delivered,  another  afternoon,  the  even 
ing  too,  perhaps,  would  be  wasted  and 
lost. 

And  as  he  thought  of  this,  behind  him 
he  divined  rather  than  heard  Atcheh's 
noiseless  tread.  He  turned  at  once. 
Another  idea  had  come  to  him,  one  on 


72  A   Transient  Guest. 

which  he  determined  to  act  at  once.  The 
"  boy  "  was  already  retreating,  a  tray  in  his 
hand. 

"  Dja  keno,"  Tancred  called. 

On  shipboard  he  had  not  been  altogether 
idle.  The  Malay  tongue  is  as  easy  to 
speak  badly  as  Italian,  and  Tancred  had 
found  slight  difficulty  in  acquiring  enough 
mouthfuls  for  ordinary  needs.  "Dja  keno 
— come  here."  The  sultry  savage  wheeled 
and  obeyed. 

"Ba  gnio  inong — take  this  to  the  lady." 
And  as  Tancred  spoke  he  pointed  through 
the  lattice  to  Mrs.  Lyeth. 

The  Malay  took  the  note  and  bowed. 

"  Bae,  Tuan,"  he  answered.  "  Your 
lordship,  it  is  well." 

In  a  moment  the  man  had  gone,  and  in 
another  moment  Tancred  saw  him  ap 
proach  Mrs.  Lyeth  and  place  the  letter  in 


A   Transient  Guest.  73 

her  hand.  He  could  see  that  she  was 
eying  it,  wonderingly  no  doubt,  for  now 
she  turned  her  head,  but  already  the 
Malay  had  disappeared.  And  as  she  still 
looked  about  her,  holding  the  letter  un 
opened  before  her,  Tancred  felt  as  though 
something  were  clutching  at  his  throat. 
From  out  the  coppice,  not  a  dozen  yards 
distant,  the  general  had  suddenly  emerged. 
In  a  state  similar  to  that  mental  paral 
ysis  which  visits  us  in  dream,  Tancred 
marked  his  advance.  It  seemed  perfectly 
natural  that  he  should  be  there  ;  without 
an  effort  he  recalled  the  fact,  forgotten 
albeit  until  now,  yet  still  the  unaccountable 
fact  that  it  was  Sunday ;  and  presently,  as 
the  general  halted,  his  thin  figure  erect,  a 
bamboo  switch  in  his  hand,  his  cavalry 
moustache  more  bristling  than  ever,  and 
proprietor-fashion  surveyed  the  grounds,  it 


74  A   Transient  Guest. 

was  to  Tancred  as  though  he  had  been 
there  for  all  of  time.  Then  at  once  the 
cerebral  swoon  departed,  in  a  confusion  of 
visions,  with  that  thing  still  clutching  at 
his  throat  and  his  heart  beating  like  mad, 
he  saw  on  one  side  Mrs.  Lyeth  open  the 
letter,  and  on  the  other  the  general  decapi 
tate  a  poppy  with  his  switch. 

Already  Mrs.  Lyeth  had  turned'  the  in 
itial  page;  she  had  read  the  second  and 
was  beginning  at  the  last,  when  the 
general,  to  whose  presence  behind  her  she 
was  obviously  oblivious,  advanced  on  tip 
toe  to  where  she  sat.  Tancred  saw  him 
raise  a  warning  finger  to  his  lips,  beneath 
the  moustache  he  divined  a  smile,  invisible 
to  him,  yet  apparent,  doubtless,  to  Liance, 
at  whom  the  warning  gesture  must  have 
been  made,  and  then,  bending  over  his 
fiancee's  shoulder,  he  peered  at  the  letter 


A   Transient  Guest.  75 


which  she  held.  Yet  before  he  could  have 
deciphered  so  much  as  a  line  of  it,  Mrs. 
Lyeth  started,  as  we  all  do  when  taken 
unaware.  In  an  instant,  however,  she 
recovered  her  self-possession.  She  turned 
to  the  general,  her  mouth  compressed  into 
a  pout. 

"  Do  you  know,"  she  said,  from  the  tips 
of  her  lips,  "  you  are  as  bad  as  Atcheh. 
A  cat  would  make  more  noise," 

At    this    reproof    the    general    laughed 
aloud,  and,  as   though  in   sheer  excess   of 
glee,  beat  his  leg  with   the  switch.     Tan 
cred  could  see  it  was,  indeed,  a  merry  jest 
to  him. 

"  My  bonny  Kate  !  "  he  gurgled.  "  I 
frightened  her,  did  I  not?"  And  again 
he  beat  his  leg  and  laughed.  "  And  whom 
is  the  missive  from  ? "  he  asked.  "  I 
heard  the  gharry's  wheels  an  hour  ago. 


7 6  A   Transient  Guest. 

Will  you  pay  me  if  I  wager  and  I  win  ? 
Will  you  pay  me  ?  I  wager  it  is  from — 
h'm — let  me  see.  I  wager  it  is  from  that 
coffee  planter's  wife  you  met  at  Singapore." 

And  Mrs.  Lyeth,  with  her  bravest  smile, 
answered  : 

"  You  have  lost." 

"  From  whom  is  it  then  ?  There  is  no 
European  mail  to-day."  He  eyed  her, 
laughing  still.  "From  whom  is  it?"  he 
repeated.  And  as  he  spoke  he  bent  again 
and  looked  down  at  the  letter,  which  still 
lay  open  in  her  hand.  "  Tancred  Enne- 
ver  !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  Why,  what  has  he 
to  write  to  you  about  ? " 

"Don't  ask  me,"  she  answered,  airily; 
and  then,  presumably,  she  must  have 
understood  the  uselessness  of  further 
parry,  for  she  added,  carelessly  enough, 
"  It  is  to  Liance,  not  to  me." 


A   2'rausicnt  Guest.  77 

From  the  window  Tancred  could  see  the 
general  turn  to  where  his  daughter  sat. 
And  as  he  watched  he  saw  the  girl  issue 
from  the  shadow,  take  the  letter  from  Mrs. 
Lyeth,  and  escape  with  it  to  the  house. 
During  the  entire  scene  she  had  not 
uttered  a  word.  She  had  been  a  witness, 
not  an  actor,  and  now  as  she  crossed  the 
lawn,  the  letter  rumpled  in  her  hold,  there 
was  an  alertness  in  her  step  and  such 
expectance  in  her  face  that  you  would 
have  thought  her  hastening  to  a  rendez 
vous.  It  was  evident  that  she,  too,  had 
taken  the  fib  for  truth. 

Tancred  moved  back.  When  he  again 
peered  out,  the  general  and  his  bride-elect 
had  disappeared. 


V. 

OVER  the  luncheon  to  which  Tancrecl 
was  presently  summoned  a  foreboding 
hovered,  ambient  in  the  air.  Mrs.  Lyeth 
was  not  present,  confined  by  a  headache, 
Liance  explained,  to  her  room.  The  girl 
herself  preserved  her  every-day  attitude, 
and  Tancred  did  his  best  to  engage  her  in 
speech  ;  but  she  did  not  second  his  en 
deavors.  When  he  addressed  her  she  an 
swered,  if  at  all,  with  her  eyes,  and  in 
them  she  put  something  that  resembled  a 
monition.  Save  for  the  reference  to  her 
future  step-mother,  she  broke  bread  in 
silence.  As  for  the  general,  Cruikshank 
would  have  taken  him  to  his  heart ;  he  was 
78 


A  Transient  Guest.  79 

both  jocose  and  irritable  ;  he  feigned  a 
glutton  interest  in  his  plate ;  he  loaded 
the  soft  Malay  tongue  with  curious  oaths, 
which  he  exploded  at  the  servant;  he  alter 
nately  praised  and  reviled  the  food,  and 
from  beneath  his  bushy  eyebrows  he 
glanced  in  the  kindliest  fashion  now  at  his 
daughter  and  now  at  his  guest.  And  so 
well  did  he  succeed  in  heightening  the 
enervation  of  the  latter  that  it  was  not 
until  the  acrid  caramels  were  passed  that 
Tancred  even  pretended  to  eat.  Then, 
remembering  that  it  was  Liance  that  made 
them,  he  ventured  to  compliment  the  girl, 
and,  as  she  answered  nothing,  acknowledg 
ing  the  tribute  only  by  an  inclination  of 
the  head,  he  saw  in  the  expression  of  her 
face  that  she  was  even  more  emotionalized 
than  he.  Presently  a  burning  coal  and  some 
cigars  were  brought.  Liance  rose  from 


80  A   Transient  Guest. 

the  table,  and  Tancred,  rising  too,  accom 
panied  her  to  the  door.  There,  it  may  be, 
she  had  some  message  to  impart ;  her  lips 
moved,  yet  before  Tancred  could  grasp  its 
import  the  general  called  him,  and  he  \vas 
obliged  to  turn.  The  girl  wandered  out 
on  the  veranda,  and  Tancred  resumed  his 
seat. 

"Will  you  smoke?"  the  general  asked. 
His  tone  was  so  friendly  that  Tancred  felt 
more  miserable  than  before.  "  Take  one," 
he  continued.  "  Sumatran  tobacco  ranks 
nearly  with  the  Havanese." 

For  a  fraction  of  time  which  seemed  im 
measurable  the  two  men  smoked  in  silence. 
But  in  a  moment  the  general  gave  a  poke 
at  the  coal,  and  looked  up  at  his  guest. 

"  Mrs.  Lyeth  tells  me  that  you  have  done 
us  the  honor  to  ask  for  my  daughter's 
hand." 


A  Transient  Guest.  81 

Tancred  glanced  at  the  point  of  his 
cigar,  and  discovered  that  it  was  out. 

"  May  I  trouble  you  ?  "  he  murmured. 

The  general  shoved  the  brasier  toward 
him,  and  watched  the  relighting  with  evi 
dent  solicitude. 

"  It's,  the  dampness,"  he  announced. 
"  H'm.  Am  I  correctly  informed  ?  " 

Tancred  gave  a  puff  or  two,  and  then, 
withdrawing  the  weed,  he  held  it  contem 
platively  between  forefinger  and  thumb ; 
but  he  answered  not  a  word. 

The  general  knocked  the  ashes  from  his 
own  cigar  and  eyed  the  burning  coal. 

"  H'm,  let  me  ask  you,  did  you  write  to 
my  daughter  this  morning  ?  " 

And  Tancred,  with  that  long-drawn 
breath  we  take  when  we  prepare  for  the 
worst,  answered  shortly : 

"  I  did." 
6 


82  A   Transient  Guest, 

To  this  avowal  the  general  nodded  en 
couragingly.  Tancred,  however,  seemed 
averse  to  further  confidences ;  he  kept 
looking  at  his  cigar  as  though  it  were  some 
strange  and  uncanny  thing. 

"  H'm,  well — er — did  you,  did  you  begin 
the  letter  with  a  term  of  endearment  ?  " 

"  Yes,  general." 

Tancred  had  tossed  his  cigar — a  cigar 
that  ranked  nearly  with  a  Havanese — into 
the  finger-bowl.  He  straightened  himself 
and  looked  his  host  in  the  face. 

"  Yes,  general,  and  I  am  sorry  for  it.  I 
have  no  excuse,  not  one.  It  was  a  piece 
of  unpardonable  ill-breeding.  I  had  no 
right  to  send  the  note  ;  I  had  no  encourage 
ment  to  write  it.  The  only  amend  in  my 
power  is  an  apology.  I  make  one  now  to 
you ;  let  me  beg  that  you  will  convey 
another  to  your  daughter." 


A  Transient  Guest.  83 

The  general  half  rose  from  his  seat  and 
hit  the  table  with  his  fist.  His  face  was 
convulsed.  He  was  hideous. 

"  But,  bandit  that  you  are,"  he  cried, 
"  she  loves  you." 

"  No,  general,  you  are  wrong." 

"  Ah,  I  am  wrong,  am  I  ?  Not  an  hour 
ago  she  told  me  so  of  her  own  ac 
cord." 

"  General,  it  was  a  jest." 

"  A  jest !  You  call  it  a  jest  to  surprise 
a  girl  in  the  dark  " — 

"  To  what  ?  "  gasped  Tancred.  "  To 
what  ? " 

"  There,  you  know  well  enough  what  I 
mean.  I  refer  to  the  other  evening." 

"  Merciful  heaven  !  "  groaned  Tancred, 
"  it  was  she  then  that  I  kissed." 

"  It  is  a  jest  to  do  a  thing  like  that,  to 
write  impassioned  letters,  and  to  win  a 


84  A   Transient  Guest. 

heart.  Is  it  a  jest  you  call  it,  sir,  or  did  I 
misunderstand  your  words  ?  " 

"  No,  general,  not  that.  What  I  meant 
was  that  it  was  impossible  for  Miss  Van 
Lier  to  have  confessed  to  any  love  for 
me — " 

The  lattice  at  the  window  was  thrust 
aside.  For  a  second  the  girl's  sidereal 
eyes  blazed  into  the  room. 

"  He  is  right,  father  :  I  do  not  love  ;  I 
hate." 

The  lattice  fell  again.     She  had  gone. 

During  the  moment  that  followed  you 
could  have  heard  a  lizard  move.  Tancred 
fumbled  at  his  collar,  and  General  Van 
Lier  sank  back  in  his  chair. 

"Mr.  Ennever,"  he  said,  at  last,  "you 
are  my  guest." 

The  tone  in  which  he  spoke  was  low  and 
self-restrained,  but  in  it  there  was  an 


A   2'ransient  Guest.  85 

accent  that  was  tantamount  to  a  slap  in  the 
face. 

Tancred  was  on  his  feet  at  once. 

"  If  you  permit  me,  I  will  leave  to-day." 

General  Van  Lier  moved  to  the  door. 

"  There  is  a  boat  from  Siak  at  five,"  he 
answered. 

"General,"  Tancred  hesitated;  he  was 
humiliated  as  he  had  never  been,  and 
rightly  humiliated,  he  knew.  He  was  try 
ing  to  say  something  that  would  express 
his  sense  of  abasement,  and  a  fitting 
speech  was  on  the  end  of  his  tongue. 

"  General—" 

"After  you,  sir."  The  general  was 
pointing  to  the  door. 

"  General—" 

"  Nay,  sir,  after  you.     I  insist." 

Tancred  bowed  and  passed  out.  A 
moment  later  he  was  in  his  room. 


86  A   Transient  Guest. 

In  a  corner  was  a  trunk.  In  another  a 
shirt-box.  Tancred  gathered  his  traps  to 
gether,  and  tossed  some  into  the  one,  some 
into  the  other,  a  proceeding  at  which  Zut 
yelped  and  fawned  with  delight.  Evi 
dently  on  him  at  least  the  attractions  of  the 
bungalow  had  begun  to  pall. 

"  Yes,  Zut,  we  are  going." 

And  at  this  the  dog  yelped  again  and 
curveted  sheer  across  the  room. 

"But  you  must  be  quiet,"  Tancred 
added.  "  There,  be  still." 

He  was  thinking  of  Mrs.  Lyeth,  and 
wondering  whether  he  should  see  her  be 
fore  he  went.  If  he  could  exchange  but 
one  word  with  her,  surely,  he  told  himself, 
she  would  understand.  He  lounged  to  the 
window  and  leaned  on  the  sill. 

It  was  one  of  those  afternoons,  brutal 
and  terrible  in  beauty,  which  only  the 


A  Transient  Guest.  87 

equator  provides.  The  sky  was  like  the 
curtain  of  an  alcove,  the  sun  a  vomiter  of 
living  glare.  Beyond  was  a  riot  of  color 
such  as  Delacroix  never  dreamed,  a  combi 
nation  more  insolent  than  the  Quetzal  pos 
sesses,  all  the  primaries  interstriatecl,  a 
rainbow  of  insolent  hues.  And  there,  in 
white,  a  parasol  over  her  head,  a  basket 
dangling  from  her  wrist,  Liance  appeared, 
emerging,  as  her  father  had,  from  the  cop 
pice  beyond. 

Instinctively  he  drew  back  :  he  had  no 
wish  to  see  her  eyes  charged  with  hate 
again.  She  was  not  one  to  forgive,  he 
knew ;  the  beauty  of  the  equator  was  in 
her,  and  its  pitilessness  as  well.  And  yet, 
he  reflected,  if  I  could  but  tell  her  not 
alone  how  she  and  I  have  erred,  but  how 
sorry  I  am  for  it  all.  But  no ;  manifestly 
an  explanation  was  impossible.  Did  he 


A   Transient  Guest. 


attempt  one  it  .might  inculpate  another. 
He  was  not  alone  solely  to  blame,  he  was 
blockaded  in  his  own  disgrace.  He  told 
himself  this ;  he  repeated  it  even  in  vary 
ing  keys ;  but  beneath  it  all  he  felt  that 
some  redress  should  be.  The  idea  that 
the  house  he  had  entered  as  an  honored 
guest  would  see  him  depart  in  shame 
had  already  brought  the  blood  to  his 
cheeks.  And  that  blood  now  was  leaving 
a  stain  that  years  would  not  efface.  "  I 
must  write,"  he  decided ;  I  must  write 
some  word."  And  he  was  about  to  seat 
himself  at  the  table,  when  Atcheh  ap 
peared. 

"  Tuan,"  he  murmured,  in  the  soft  voca 
bles  of  his  tongue.  "  The  gharry  waits 
your  Jordship." 

At  this  Zut,  who  was  surprisingly  polyglot 
of  ear,  yelped  with  renewed  delight.  Tan- 


A  Transient  Guest.  89 

cred  pointed  to  his  effects,  and  waited  until 
they  had  been  removed.  It  was  possible, 
he  reflected,  that  he  might  meet  Liance  or 
Mrs.  Lyeth  in  the  hall.  Yet  should  he  not 
do  so,  then,  he  told  himself,  he  would  write 
from  Singapore. 

But  when  he  reached  the  veranda,  only 
the  general  was  there.  Beyond,  the  gharry 
stood  in  readiness,  and  by  it  was  Atcheh, 
the  trunk  and  shirt-box  already  strapped  in 
place.  Tancred  stretched  his  hand. 

"  General—" 

"  I  wish  you  a  pleasant  journey,  sir," 
that  gentleman  answered,  and  lifted  his 
hat. 

Mechanically  Tancred  raised  his  own. 

"  I  thank  you,"  he  said.  And  with  a 
backward  glance  he  called  to  Zut  and  en 
tered  the  conveyance. 

A  whip  cracked,  the  gharry  started  ;  in  a 


90  A   Transient   Guest. 

moment  it  was  on  the  road.  Tancred 
turned  to  take  another  and  a  parting  look. 
Already  the  general  had  disappeared,  but 
from  a  window  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  some 
one  robed  in  white.  A  curve  was  rounded 
and  the  bungalow  disappeared. 

For  an  hour  over  a  road  beside  which 
the  Corniche  is  commonplace  indeed,  the 
gharry  rolled  on.  To  Tancred,  however, 
its  beauties  were  remote  and  undiscerned. 
If  he  noticed  them  at  ail  it  was  only  as  ac 
cessories.  He  was  wholly  absorbed  in  his 
own  discomfiture,  and  the  gharry  drew  up 
and  halted  at  the  wharf  before  he  was  aware 
that  Siak  had  been  reached  and  the  journey 
was  done. 

About  him  was  the  same  assortment  of 
fat-faced  Celestials  and  gaunt  Malays  that 
he  had  noticed  before.  Apparently  nothing 
had  happened  to  them ;  they  had  contented 


A   Transient  Guest.  91 

themselves  with  continuing  to  be.  Before 
him  was  a  glistening  sea,  a  limitless  hori 
zon.  To  the  left  the  shore  extended,  fairer 
and  more  brilliant  than  the  courtyard  of  a 
royal  domain.  Just  beyond,  one  of  the 
ships  of  the  Dutch  East  India  service  was 
moored,  her  funnels  lengthening  and  fading 
in  spirals  of  smoke.  And  when  Tancred 
had  attended  to  the  transfer  of  his  luggage, 
and  was  about  to  step  into  the  sampan  that 
was  to  convey  him  to  the  steamer,  there 
came  a  clatter  of  horse's  hoofs,  and  on  a 
black  and  panting  pony  Atcheh  suddenly 
appeared. 

"  Tuan,"  he  cried,  and  waved  something 
in  the  air.  "  Tuan,  a  moment  more." 

In  that  moment  he  had  sprung  from 
the  pony  and  run  to  where  Tancred 
stood. 

"  From   the   little   lady,  Lord,"  he  said, 


g  2  A   Transient  Guest. 

and,  handing  a  basket  to  his  master's  guest, 
bowed  to  the  ground. 

Tancred  found  a  bit  of  gold. 

"  For  you,"  he  said,  and  the  Malay 
bowed  again.  "  To  the  lady,  give  my 
thanks." 

And  at  once  his  heart  gave  an  exultant 
throb ;  his  departure  was  regretted.  As  he 
lowered  himself  into  the  boat  his  excess  of 
joy  was  so  acute  he  nearly  fell.  Truly,  if  it 
be  pleasant  to  appreciate,  it  is  also  pleasant 
to  be  appreciated.  He  still  clutched  at  the 
basket,  his  hands  moist  with  excitement, 
his  face  aglow,  and  it  was  not  until  the  ship 
was  reached  that  he  noticed  that  Zut  was 
sniffing  at  it. 

"  Behave,"  he  ordered.  But  his  voice 
was  so  kindly  that  the  little  fellow  only 
sniffed  the  more.  It  was  easy  to  see  that 
he  was  jubilating  too. 


A  Transient  Guest.  93 

On  deck  Tancred  experienced  some  dif 
ficulty  in  securing  a  cabin.  But  for  what 
were  rupees  coined  and  tips  invented  ? 
The  steward  consulted  the  purser,  the 
purser  consulted  the  first  officer,  and  in 
five  minutes  the  cabin  of  the  latter  func 
tionary  was  at  Tancred's  disposal.  It  was 
roomy  and  cool ;  or  perhaps  it  would  be 
more  exact  to  say  that  it  was  fully  as  large 
as  a  closet  and  that  the  thermometer  did 
not  mark  one  degree  above  ninety.  In 
short,  Tancred  had  every  reason  to  consider 
himself  in  luck.  He  shut  the  door  and 
throwing  himself  on  a  wicker  settee  he 
opened  the  basket,  which  until  now  he  had 
kept  tight  clasped  in  his  hand. 

It  was,  he  saw,  filled  with  sweetmeats 
such  as  he  had  eaten  at  the  bungalow.  On 
top,  pinned  to  the  interior  of  the  basket,  was 
a  slip  of  paper  that  contained  a  single  line 


94  A   Transient  Guest. 

— Souvenir  et  bon  voyage — and  for  signa 
ture,  Liance.  He  read  the  message  twice, 
and,  it  may  be,  he  would  have  repeated  the 
message  aloud,  but  Zut  kept  bothering  him 
with  little  hungry  yelps.  To  quiet  the  dog 
he  tossed  him  a  sweet  and  put  the  basket 
down. 

In  some  mysterious  manner  his  joy  had 
taken  itself  away.  It  was  not  from  Liance 
he  had  expected  a  remembrance.  When 
Atcheh  placed  the  basket  in  his  hand,  he 
had  told  himself  that,  whatever  it  might 
contain,  it  was  at  least  a  gift  from  Mrs. 
Lyeth,  a  token  expressive  of  her  regret  at 
his  departure.  And  instead  of  that  there 
was  a  handful  of  bonbons  that  might  have 
been  sent  to  a  child,  and  a  meaningless 
message  from  one  to  whose  solicitude  he 
was  indifferent.  The  disappointment,  in 
deed,  was  great.  For  a  while  he  let  it 


A   Transient  Guest.  95 

intensify  within  him.  But  presently  he 
stood  up  :  it  was  getting  dark  ;  long  since 
the  sob  of  water  displaced  had  told  him 
that  the  ship  had  started  ;  a  turn  on  deck 
might  do  him  good,  he  thought ;  and  as 
he  moved  to  the  door  he  called  to  his 
dog. 

"  Zut ! " 

And  as  the  dog  did  not  immediately  ap 
pear,  Tancred  wondered  could  he  have  got 
out.  But  no,  the  door  was  closed. 

"  What  the  dickens  can  have  become  of 
him  ?  "  he  muttered,  and  turning  again  he 
caught  sight  of  Zut  stretched  on  the  floor. 
"  Hello  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  there  you  are. 
Why  don't  you  come  when  you're  called  ?  " 

Even  at  this,  however,  the  dog  did  not 
move.  Tancred  bent  over  and  touched 
him,  and  then  suddenly  kneeled  down. 
"Why,  what  is  the  matter  with  him?  A 


96  A  Transient  Guest. 

moment  ago  he  was  right  enough ;  it  is 
impossible  that — Zut !  Zut  Alors  !  " 

And  raising  the  dog's  head  up  he  stared 
at  it.  The  eyes  were  convulsed,  the 
tongue  was  swollen  and  distorted.  "  He  is 
dead,"  he  murmured.  "  He  is  dead.  But 
how  ?  " 

To  this  question  no  answer  was  vouch 
safed.  In  his  bewilderment  he  stood  up 
again  and  leaned  at  the  port-hole.  Already 
Siak  had  faded.  Above  was  a  splatter  of 
callous  stars,  beneath  was  the  sea,  black 
now  and  almost  chill. 

"  But  how  ? "  he  repeated.  Then  at 
once  he  clutched  at  the  woodwork ;  his 
eyes  had  fallen  on  the  basket ;  he  remem 
bered  the  sweet  he  had  tossed  to  the 
dog.  The  cabin  seemed  to  be  turning 
round. 

At  his  side   the  door  opened,   and   the 


A  Transient  Guest.  97 

steward  looked  in.     "  Supper  is  ready,  sir; 
will  you  come  ?" 

"  The  rafflesia  !  "  Tancred  gasped  at  him. 
But  what  he  meant  by  that  absurd  reply 
the  steward  did  not  think  it  necessary  to 
ask. 

"  Very  good,  sir,"  he  answered,  and  shut 
the  door. 
7 


THE  GRAND  DUKE'S   RUBIES. 


I. 

THERE  is  in  New  York  a  club  called  the 
Balmoral,  which  has  two  peculiarities — no 
one  ever  goes  there  much  before  midnight, 
and  it  is  the  only  place  in  town  where  you 
can  get  anything  fit  to  eat  at  four  o'clock  in 
the  morning.  The  members  are  politicians 
of  the  higher  grade,  men  about  town,  and  a 
sprinkle  of  nondescripts.  In  the  unhal 
lowed  inspiration  of  a  moment,  Alphabet 
Jones,  the  novelist, — in  polite  society  Mr. 
A.  B.  Fenwick  Chisholm-Jones, — baptized 
it  the  Smallpox,  a  name  which  has  stuck 
tenaciously,  the  before-mentioned  members 
98 


The   Grand  Duke's  Rubies.  99 

being  usually  pitted — against  each  other. 
Of  the  many  rooms  of  the  club,  one,  it 
should  be  explained,  is  the  most  enticing. 
It  is  situated  on  an  upper  floor,  and  the 
siren  that  presides  therein  is  a  long  table 
dressed  in  green.  Her  name  is  Baccarat. 
One  night  last  February,  Alphabet  Jones 
rattled  up  to  the  door  in  a  vagabond  han 
som.  He  was  thirsty,  impecunious,  and  a 
trifle  tired.  He  had  been  to  a  cotillon, 
where  he  had  partaken  of  champagne,  and 
he  wanted  to  get  the  taste  of  it  out  of  his 
throat.  He  needed  five  hundred  dollars, 
and  in  his  card-case  there  were  only  two 
hundred  and  fifty.  The  bar  of  the  Athe 
naeum  Club  he  knew  at  that  hour  was 
closed,  possible  money-lenders  were  in  bed, 
and  it  was  with  the  idea  of  killing  the  two 
birds  of  the  legend  that  he  sought  the  Bal 
moral. 


ioo         77/6'  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

He  encountered  there  no  difficulty  in 
slaking  his  thirst ;  and  when,  in  one 
draught,  which  brought  to  his  tonsils  a 
suggestion  of  art,  science,  and  Wagner 
combined,  he  swallowed  a  brandy-and- 
soda,  he  felt  better,  and  looked  about  to 
see  who  might  be  present.  The  room 
which  he  had  entered  was  on  what  is 
called  the  parlor  floor.  It  was  long,  high- 
ceiled,  comfortably  furnished,  and  some 
what  dim.  At  the  furthermost  end  three 
men  were  seated,  two  of  whom  he  recog 
nized,  the  one  as  Sumpter  Leigh,  the  other 
as  Colonel  Barker-,  but  the  third  he  did  not 
remember  to  have  seen  before.  Some 
Westerner,  he  thought ;  for  Jones  prided 
himself  on  knowing  every  one  worth  know 
ing  in  New  York,  and,  it  may  be  added,  in 
several  other  cities  as  well. 

He  took  out  his  card-case  and  thumbed 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         101 

the  roll  of  bills  reflectively.  If  he  went 
upstairs,  he  told  himself,  he  might  double 
the  amount  in  two  minutes.  But  then, 
again,  he  might  lose  it.  Yet,  if  he  did, 
might  not  five  hundred  be  as  easily  bor 
rowed  as  two  hundred  and  fifty  ? 

"  It's  brutal  to  be  so  hard  up,"  he  mused. 
u  Literature  doesn't  pay.  I  might  better 
set  up  as  publisher,  open  a  drug-shop, 
turn  grocer,  do  anything,  in  fact,  which  is 
brainless  and  remunerative,  than  attempt 
to  earn  a  living  by  the  sweat  of  my  pen. 
There's  that  Interstate  Magazine :  the  edi 
tor  sent  me  a  note  by  a  messenger  this 
morning,  asking  for  a  story,  adding  that 
the  messenger  would  wait  while  I  wrote  it. 
Evidently  he  thinks  me  three  parts  stenog 
rapher  and  the  rest  kaleidoscope.  What 
is  a  good  synonym  for  an  editor,  any 
way  ?  " 


io2          The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies, 

And  as  Jones  asked  himself  this  ques 
tion  he  glared  fiercely  in  a  mirror  that  ex 
tended  from  cornice  to  floor.  Then,  molli 
fied,  possibly,  by  his  own  appearance,  for 
he  was  a  handsome  man,  tall,  fair,  and 
clear  of  skin,  he  threw  himself  on  a  sofa, 
and  fell  to  thinking  about  the  incidents  of 
the  ball. 

For  some  time  past  he  had  been  as  dis 
creetly  attentive  as  circumstances  permit 
ted  to  a  young  girl,  the  only  child  of  a  po 
tent  financier,  and  on  that  particular  even 
ing  he  had  sat  out  the  cotillon  with  her  at 
an  assembly.  She  was  very  pretty  and,  un 
usual  as  it  may  seem  in  a  dtfbutante,  rather 
coy.  But  when,  a  half-hour  before,  he  had 
wished  her  sweet  dreams  in  that  seductive 
manner  for  which  he  was  famous,  she  had 
allowed  the  tips  of  her  fingers  to  rest  in  his 
own  just  one  fleeting  second  longer  than 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         103 

was  necessary,  and,  what  is  more  to  the 
point,  had  looked  into  his  eyes  something 
which  now,  under  the  influence  of  the 
brandy-and-soda,  seemed  almost  a  promise. 
"  Dear  little  soul !  "  he  muttered  ;  "  if  she 
marries  me  I  will  refuse  her  nothing.  It 
will  be  the  devil's  own  job,  though,  to 
get  her  any  sort  of  an  engagement 
ring.  Tiffany,  perhaps,  might  give  me 
one  on  credit,  but  it  will  have  to  be 
something  very  handsome,  something 
new ;  not  that  tiresome  solitaire.  Those 
stones  I  saw  the  other  day — H'm  !  I  won 
der  what  that  fellow  is  staring  at  me 
for  ?  " 

He  lounged  forward  to  where  the  men 
were  seated,  and,  being  asked  to  draw 
a  chair,  graciously  accepted  the  invita 
tion  and  another  brandy-and-soda  as 
well. 


IO4         The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

"  It  was  this  way,"  the  stranger  ex 
claimed,  excitedly,  when  he  and  Jones 
had  been  introduced.  "  I  was  telling 
these  gentlemen  when  you  came  in  that 
you  looked  like  the  Grand  Duke 
Sergius  — " 

"Thank  you,"  the  novelist  answered, 
affably.  "  The  same  to  you." 

"  I  never  saw  him  though,"  the  stranger 
continued. 

"  No  more  have  I." 

"  Only  his  picture." 

"Your  remark,  then,  was  doubly  flatter- 
ing." 

"  But  the  picture  to  which  I  allude  was 
that  of  a  chimerical  grand  duke." 

"  Really,  sir,  really  you  are  overwhelm- 
ing." 

"  But  wait  a  minute,  do  wait  a  minute. 
Mr.  Jones,  I  don't  know  whether  you 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         105 

caught  my  name  :  it  is  Fairbanks — David 
Fairbanks." 

"  Delighted  !  I  remember  it  perfectly. 
My  old  friend,  Nicholas  Manhattan, 
bought  a  ruby  of  you  once,  and  a  beauty  it 
was.  I  heard  at  the  time  that  you  made  a 
specialty  of  them." 

"  So  did  the  grand  duke.  He  came 
here,  you  know,  on  that  man-of-war." 

"  Yes,  I  know.  Mrs.  Wainwaring  gave 
him  a  reception.  It  was  just  my  luck  :  I 
was  down  with  the  measles  at  the  time." 

"  Oh,  you  were,  were  you  ?  You  were 
down  with  the  measles,  eh  ?  Well,  I  wish 
I  had  been.  Gentlemen,  listen  to  this ; 
you  must  listen.  I  was  in  my  office  in 
Maiden  Lane  one  day,  when  a  young  man 
came  in.  He  wore  the  most  magnificent 
fur  coat  I  have  ever  seen  in  my  life.  No, 
that  coat  was  something  that  only  Russia 


106          The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

could  have  produced.  He  handed  me  a 
card  on  which  was  engraved 

PCE  MICHEL  ZAROGUINE, 

Aide-de-camp   de   S.   A.   I.   le  grand-due   Serge   de 
Ritssie. 

And  then,  of  all  things  in  the  world,  he 
offered  me  a  pinch  of  snuff,  and  when  I  re 
fused  he  helped  himself  out  of  a  beautiful 
box  and  flicked  the  grains  which  had  fallen 
on  his  lapel  with  a  nimbleness  of  finger 
such  as  it  was  a  pleasure  to  behold.  I 
ought  to  tell  you  that  he  spoke  English 
with  great  precision,  though  his  accent  was 
not  pleasant — sort  of  grizzled,  as  it  were. 
Well,  gentlemen,  he  said  that  his  prince,  as 
he  called  him,  the  grand  duke,  wanted 
some  rubies ;  they  were  intended  for  a 
present ;  and,  though  my  visitor  did  not 
imply  anything  either  by  word  or  gesture,  I 
suspected  at  once  that  they  were  for  a 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         107 

lady.  The  grand  duke  at  that  time  had 
been  here  a  fortnight,  and  it  was  said — 
However,  there  is  no  use  in  going  into 
that.  So  I  showed  him  a  few  ;  but,  if  you 
will  believe  me,  he  wanted  enough  to  make 
a  tiara.  I  told  him  that  a  tiara  of  stones 
of  that  quality  would  come  anywhere  from 
sixty  to  eighty  thousand  dollars.  If  I  had 
said  a  peck  of  groats  he  could  not  have 
appeared  more  indifferent.  'It  is  a  great 
deal  of  money,'  I  said.  He  smiled  a  little 
at  that,  as  though  he  were  thinking,  '  Poor 
devil  of  an  American,  it  may  seem  a  great 
deal  of  money  to  you,  but  to  a  grand  duke 
—  ! '  Then  I  brought  out  all  I  had.  He 
looked  them  over  with  the  pincers  very 
carefully,  and  asked  how  much  I  valued 
them  at.  I  told  him  a  hundred  and  ten 
thousand  dollars.  He  didn't  turn  a  hair." 
"Was  he  bald  ?  "  Jones  asked. 


loS          The  Grand  Dukes  Rubies. 

"  No,  sir,  he  was  not ;  and  your  jest  is 
ill-timed.  Gentlemen,  I  appeal  to  you.  I 
insist  on  Mr.  Jones's  attention — " 

"  Why,  the  man  is  crazy,"  Jones  mused. 
"  What  does  he  mean  by  saying  that  my 
jest  is  ill-timed  ?  But  why  does  he  insist 
on  my  attention  ?  He's  drunk — that's 
what  he  is  ;  he's  drunk  and  quarrelsome. 
Well,  let  him  be.  What  do  I  care  ? " 
And  Alphabet  Jones  looked  complacently 
at  his  white  waistcoat  and  then  over  at  his 
excitable  vis-a-vis.  Mr.  Fairbanks  was  a 
little  man  of  the  Cruikshank  pattern,  very 
red  and  rotund,  and  as  he  talked  he  ges 
ticulated. 

"  So  I  said  to  him,  '  There's  been  a  cor 
ner  in  rubies,  but  it  broke,  and  that  is  the 
reason  why  I  can  give  them  at  that  price.' 
He  didn't  know  what  a  corner  was,  and 
when  I  explained  he  took  a  note-book  out 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.        109 

of  his  pocket  and  wrote  something  in  it. 
'  I  am  making  a  collection  of  Americanisms 
for  the  Czarina,'  he  said.  '  By  the  way,' 
he  added,  '  what  is  a  Sam  Ward  I '  I  told 
him.  He  laughed,  and  put  it  down — '' 

"His  throat?" 

Mr.  Fairbanks  glanced  at  Jones  with  un 
concealed  irritation:  "Dr.  Hammond,  sir, 
says  that  punning  is  a  form  of  paresis." 

"  Be  careful  about  that  epsilon  ;  it's 
short." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Jones,  you  ought  to  know 
how  to  pronounce  the  word  better  than  I, 
for  you  have  the  disease  and  I  haven't. 
Gentlemen,  I  insist — " 

But  Jones  had  begun  to  muse  again. 
"  That  fat  little  brute  is  a  type,"  he  told 
himself.  "  I  must  work  him  in  somewhere. 
I  wonder,  though,  if  I  had  not  better  leave 
him  and  go  up  to  the  baccarat.  It  might  be 


no         The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

more  remunerative.  It  would  be  amusing," 
and  Alphabet  smiled  at  the  fantasy  of  his 
own  thought,  "  it  would  be  amusing  indeed 
if  he  tried  to  prevent  me."  He  put  his 
hand  over  his  eyes  and  let  Mr.  Fairbanks 
ramble  on. 

"You  see,"  he  heard  him  say,  in  connec 
tion  with  something  that  had  gone  before, 
"  a  man  in  my  business  has  to  be  careful. 
Now,  there  are  rubies  and  rubies.  I  only 
handle  the  Oriental  stones,  which  are  a 
variety  of  the  hyaline  corindus.  They  are 
found  in  Ceylon,  in  Thibet,  and  in  Burmah 
among  the  crumblings  of  primordial  rock. 
But  I  have  seen  beauties  that  were  picked 
from  waste  lands  in  China  from  which 
the  granite  had  presumably  disappeared. 
They  are  the  most  brilliant  and  largest  of 
all.  There  is  another  kind,  which  looks 
like  a  burned  topaz  :  it  is  found  in  Brazil 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 


and  Massachusetts.  Then  there  is  the 
Bohemian  ruby,  which  is  nothing  but  quartz 
reddened  by  the  action  of  manganese  ;  and 
there  are  also  imitations  so  well  made  that 
only  an  expert  can  tell  them  from  the  real. 
I  keep  a  few  of  the  latter  on  hand  so  as  to 
be  able  to  gauge  a  customer.  Well,  gentle 
men,  the  Russian  picked  up  two  of  them, 
which  I  placed  before  him,  and  put  them  to 
one  side.  He  knew  the  false  article  at  a 
glance.  Your  friend,  Jones,  that  simple 
ton  Nicholas  Manhattan,  would  have  taken 
one  of  the  imitation  if  I  had  not  prevented 
him,  but  this  fellow  was  so  clever  about  it 
that  he  won  my  immediate  respect." 

"  Jones,  indeed  !  "  Alphabet  muttered. 
"  Why,  the  brute  is  as  familiar  as  a  haber 
dasher's  advertisement !  "  He  looked  at 
him  again  :  his  face  was  like  a  branclied 
peach  that  had  fallen  into  the  fire,  and  his 


The  Grand  Duke  s  Rubies. 


head  was  set  on  his  shoulders  like  an  obus 
on  a  cannon.  "  Bah ! "  he  continued, 
"  what  is  the  use  in  being  irritated  at  a  beg 
gar  who  is  as  ugly  as  a  high  hat  at  the  sea 
shore  ?  " — "  When  you  do  me  the  honor  to 
address  me,  sir,"  he  said,  aloud,  "  I 
shall  be  obliged  if  you  will  call  me  Mr, 
Jones." 

"  Tut,  tut !  "  the  little  man  answered, 
and  then,  without  further  attention  to 
Alphabet,  he  continued  his  tiresome  tale  : 

"  When  the  Russian  had  examined  the 
rubies  very  carefully  a  second  time,  he 
said,  half  to  me  and  half  to  himself,  'I 
think  they  will  do.'  Then,  looking  up  at 
me,  he  added,  '  Mr.  Fairbanks,  you  do  not 
make  a  hundred-thousand-dollar  sale  every 
day,  do  you?'  'No,  your  Excellency,' I 
answered, — you  see,  I  made  a  dash  at  Ex 
cellency  ;  Prince  seemed  sort  of  abrupt. 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         113 

don't  you  think  ?  ' — '  No,  your  Excellency, 
it  does  not  happen  over  once  a  week.'  He 
smiled  at  that,  and  well  he  might,  for  the 
biggest  sale  I  had  previously  made 
amounted  to  but  nine  thousand  dollars. 
'  Mr.  Fairbanks,'  he  continued,  '  the  grand 
duke  is  rich,  as  you  well  know.  I  am  not. 
You  will  understand  me  the  better  when  I 
tell  you  that  at  present,  unless  cholera  has 
visited  Russia  since  I  left  (and  I  hope  it 
has),  there  are  exactly  twenty-nine  people 
in  Petersburg  who  bear  the  same  name  and 
title  as  myself.  Now,  if  the  grand  duke 
purchases  these  rubies,  what  will  my  com 
mission  be  ? '  '  That  is  squarely  put,  your 
Excellency,'  I  answered — '  squarely  put. 
Will  his  Imperial  Highness  pay  cash  for 
the  rubies  ?  '  " 

"  You    might    have    asked  him    if    his 
Imperial    Highness    would   pay    rub  is   sur 


ii4          The  Grand  Dukes  Rubies. 

ronglc.  But  I  remember  you  don't 
approve  of  wit." 

This  interjection  came,  of  course,  from 
Jones.  Mr.  Fairbanks,  however,  let  it 
pass  unnoticed.  It  may  be  that  he  did 
not  understand. 

"  '  Necessarily,'  he  replied.  '  A  recent 
ukase  of  the  Czar's  inhibits  any  member 
of  the  Imperial  family  from  purchasing 
so  much  as  a  brass  samovar  on  credit.'  I 
bowed.  '  A  very  proper  and  wise  ukase 
that  is,  your  Excellency.  Under  such 
circumstances  I  think  I  see  my  way  to 
giving  you  one  per  cent.'  He  laughed  at 
that,  as  though  I  had  made  a  remark  of 
great  brilliance." 

"  I  like  that,"  Jones  exclaimed,  in  spite 
of  himself.  "  Why,  you  wouldn't  be  bril 
liant  in  a  calcium  light." 

But  this  remark,  like  the  former,  passed 


The  Grand  Dukes  Rubies.        115 

unheeded.  For  the  first  time  since  his 
memory  ran  not  to  the  contrary  it 
seemed  to  Jones  that  he  was  being 
ignored ;  and  to  ignore  Jones !  Allans 
done  / 

"  '  Look  at  me,'  said  the  Russian,"  Mr. 
Fairbanks  continued.  "  '  The  grand  duke 
will  not  buy  these  rubies  except  on  my 
recommendation,  and  I  value  that  recom 
mendation  at  not  a  kopeck  less  than  ten 
thousand  dollars.  It  is  to  take  or  to  leave. 
Choose,  sir,  choose.'  And  with  that  he 
picked  up  his  hat.  '  I  cannot,  your  Excel 
lency,  I  cannot.'  He  turned  away  and 
made  for  the  door.  '  Excellency,'  I  cried, 
'  I  will  give  you  five.'  He  wheeled  about. 
'If,'  he  said,  'you  offer  one  per  cent 
when  you  can  give  five  and  three-fifths, 
you  are  just  as  well  able  to  give  nine  and 
two-thirds." 


n6         The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

"  He  was  a  lightning  calculator,  wasn't 
he?" 

"  '  On  my  conscience,'  I  answered,  '  I 
cannot  give  more  than  seven.'  '  Ah  ! '  he 
replied,  '  I  do  not  know  how  to  haggle.' 
He  reflected  a  moment.  '  It  is  well/  he. 
said ;  '  I  accept.'  Gentlemen,  when  he 
said  that,  I  felt  that  I  had  done  a  good 
day's  work.  Apart  from  the  commission 
I  had  a  clean  profit  of  eighteen  thousand 
dollars  ;  and  eighteen  thousand  dollars  is 
a  tidy  sum — not  to  you,  gentlemen,  nor  to 
Jones  there,  but  to  me." 

"  Ged,  the  little  cad  is  getting  sarcas 
tic."  And  Jones  laughed  quietly  to  him 
self  and  finished  his  brandy-and-soda. 

Mr.  Fairbanks  waved  his  arms  and 
pounded  the  table  so  excitedly  that  he 
roused  a  waiter  from  a  nap. 

"Yes,     bring     the     same,"     he     cried. 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         117 

"  Now,  gentlemen,  I  am  coming  to  the 
point.  I  insist  on  your  attention.  Mr. 
Jones,  I  will  thank  you  not  to  interrupt — 
unless  it  happens  that  you  care  to  aid  me 
with  the  details.  Yes,  sir,  I  said  details, 
— d-e-t-a-i-1-s.  Now  wait  a  minute,  will 
you  ?  Gentlemen,  I  appeal  to  you.  He 
shall  wait.  Beat  it  into  his  head — can't 
you  ? — that  I  am  coming  to  the  point,  and 
very  interesting,  I  promise,  you  will  all 
find  it  to  be." 

"  Tu  te  vantes,  mon  bonhomme,  tu  te  vantcs. 
Here's  to  you." 

"  Here's  to  you.  Well,  gentlemen,  it 
was  then  one  o'clock.  I  always  lunch  at 
that  hour,  and  I  asked  the  Russian  if  he 
would  let  me  offer  him  a  bite.  '  I  would 
very  much  like  to  try  a  Sam  Ward,'  he 
said,  '  and  I  might  take  some  tea  and  a  bit 
of  toast.'  '  That,'  I  replied,  '  would  be 


n8          The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

tasty  with  a  little  caviare.'  I  wanted  to 
show  him  that,  though  a  dealer  in  precious 
stones,  I  was  first  and  foremost  a  man  of 
the  world." 

Alphabet  Jones  rolled  over  in  spasms  of 
delight.  "  Divinities  of  Pindar,"  he 
shouted,  "  listen  to  that !  " 

"  Gentlemen,  gag  that  man — gag  him  : 
I  will  be  listened  to.  There,  now,  will 
you  be  quiet  ?  You  make  me  lose  the 
thread.  Where  was  I  ?  Oh,  yes :  the 
Russian  seemed  to  reflect  a  moment,  and 
looked  at  his  watch.  '  I  think,'  he  said, 
'  it  would  be  better  to  go  straight  to  the 
Brevoort  House.'  (The  grand  duke,  I 
knew,  was  stopping  there.)  '  My  prince  is 
to  go  out  this  afternoon  between  two  and 
three,  and  if  you  do  not  see  him  to-day 
it  may  be  hard  to  manage  it  to-morrow.' 
I  am  at  your  orders,  Excellency,'  I 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         119 

answered ;  '  business  before  pleasure.' 
'  Good,  then,'  he  returned  ;  '  we  will  take 
a  droschky,  or,  better  even,  your  railway 
that  is  in  the  air.'  '  The  elevated,  you 
mean,'  I  said — '  the  elevated.  Yes,  of 
course.'  Inwardly  I  was  well  pleased  that 
the  suggestion  should  have  come  from 
him,  for  I  am  not  over-fond  of  riding  in 
a  cab  with  a  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  rubies  in  my  pocket  and 
a  stranger  for  sole  companion.  For  he 
was  a  stranger — wasn't  he  ? — and,  by  his 
own  account,  not  well-to-do.  But  that 
Russian  had  a  knack  of  disarming  sus 
picion.  And,  besides,  how  was  it  possible 
for  me  to  have  any  doubts  about  a  man 
who  fought  as  he  had  over  the  percent 
age  ?  It  would  have  been  nonsensical. 
So  I  did  the  rubies  up  in  cotton,  put 
them  in  a  box,  and  off  we  went.  On  the 


120         The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

way  to  the  elevated  you  ought  to  have 
seen  how  the  people  stared  at  that  coat. 
All  the  time  he  kept  up  a  delightful  flow 
of  conversation.  He  told  me  any  number 
of  interesting  things  about  his  country,  and 
when  I  asked  if  he  had  read  '  The  Journey 
Due  North  '  he  told  me  that  he  had,  and 
that  when  Sala  was  in  Russia  his  father 
had  entertained  him  at  his  country-house 
a  few  versts  from  Moscow.  Think  of  that, 
now  !  Altogether,  he  made  himself  most 
agreeable.  I  asked  him  on  the  way  if  he 
thought  that  inasmuch  as  I  was  to  have  the 
honor  of  seeing  the  grand  duke  it  would 
not  be  more  in  accordance  with  etiquette 
for  me  to  put  on  a  dress-coat.  But  he 
laughed,  and  said,  no,  the  grand  duke 
would  never  notice.  Then  he  told  me 
some  very  curious  anecdotes  about  him — 
how,  for  instance,  he  fainted  dead  away  at 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 


the  sight  of  an  apple,  and  yet  kept  a  bal 
loon  and  an  aeronaut,  just  as  Jones  there 
might  keep  a  dogcart  and  a  groom.  He 
told  me,  among  other  things,  that  at  Peters 
burg  the  grand  duke  had  a  pet  tiger,  which 
would  accept  food  from  no  one  but  him, 
and  on  my  asking  how  the  tiger  got  along 
when  the  grand  duke  was  away,  he  said 
that  the  grand  duke  had  him  stuffed.  Oh, 
he  was  very  entertaining,  and  spoke  Eng 
lish  better  than  you  would  have  imagined. 
We  walked  over  from  Eighth  Street  to  the 
hotel,  and  when  we  reached  it  he  took  me 
straight  upstairs  to  his  own  room.  '  If  you 
will  sit  a  minute,'  he  said,  '  I  will  see  if 
his  Highness  can  receive  you.'  He  went 
away,  and  I  looked  about  me.  The  room 
into  which  I  had  been  shown  was  a  sit 
ting-room  with  a  bedroom  opening  from 
it.  There  was  a  writing-table  standing 


122          The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

against  the  door  which  led  to  the  adjoining 
apartment,  and  while  I  was  waiting  I  just 
glanced  at  the  things  with  which  the  table 
was  littered.  There  were  a  number  of 
foreign  newspapers,  but  in  what  language 
they  were  printed  I  could  not  make  out; 
there  was  a  package  of  official-looking 
documents  tied  with  a  string,  a  great  blue 
envelope  addressed  in  French  to  the 
Prince  Michel  Zaroguine  and  post-marked 
Washington,  and  back  of  all,  in  a  frame, 
the  photograph  of  a  man." 

For  some  minutes  previous  Mr.  Fair 
banks  had  been  speaking  quite  compos 
edly,  though  Jones,  with  the  observant  eye 
of  his  class,  had  noticed  that  near  the  ears 
his  cheeks  and  his  forehead  as  well  were 
wet  with  perspiration.  But  now  abruptly 
he  grew  unaccountably  excited,  and  his 
speech  displayed  a  feverish  animation. 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies,         123 

His  face  had  lost  its  scarlet ;  it  had  grown 
very  white ;  and  it  seemed  to  the  novelist 
that  in  some  manner  which  he  could  not 
explain  to  himself  it  had  taken  on  a  not 
unfamiliar  aspect.  "  H'm  !  "  he  reflected, 
"  it's  odd.  I  know  I  never  saw  the  man 
before,  and  I  am  sure  that  I  do  not  par 
ticularly  care  ever  to  see  him  again. 
Leigh  ought  to  have  more  sense  than  to 
bring  an  orang-outang  even  into  such  a 
club  as  the  Smallpox.  Besides,  what  does 
he  mean  by  boring  every  one  to  death  ? 
By  gad,  I  believe  he  has  put  Leigh  to 
sleep.  It's  worse  than  a  play."  But  still 
he  made  no  effort  to  move.  In  spite  of 
himself,  he  felt  vaguely  fascinated,  and, 
though  he  declined  to  admit  it,  a  trifle  ill 
at  ease. 

"  I   took  up  the  photograph,"  Mr.  Fair 
banks  continued,  "  and  while  I  was  exam- 


124          The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

ining  it,  the  Russian  came  back.  In  his 
hand  he  held  a  check-book.  '  That's  the 
grand  duke  himself,'  he  said.  '  He  will 
stop  in  here  presently  on  his  way  out. 
There  will  be  two  or  three  members  of  the 
suite  with  him  ;  and,  that  you  may  recog 
nize  his  Highness  at  once,  take  a  good 
look  at  the  picture.  When  he  comes  in 
you  must  do  this  way  :  button  your  coat, 
please  ;  thanks  :  now  stand  anywhere  you 
like  and  make  a  low  bow.  Let  me  see 
you  make  one.  Bravo !  that  is  splendid. 
Only — how  shall  I  say? — do  not  let  your 
arms  hang  in  that  fashion.  The  grand 
duke  might  think  you  had  dropped  some 
thing  and  were  stooping  to  pick  it  up. 
However,  that  is  a  minor  matter.  It  may 
be  that  he  won't  see  you  at  all.  But  of  all 
things  remember  this :  under  no  circum 
stances  must  you  speak  to  him  unless  he 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         125 

first  addresses  you,  and  then  you  must 
merely  answer  his  question.  In  other 
words,  do  not,  I  pray  you,  try  to  engage 
him  in  conversation.'  '  Does  he  speak 
English  ? '  I  asked.  I  couldn't  help  it.  I 
was  getting  nervous.  '  Now  let  us  have 
the  rubies,'  he  said.  I  took  the  box  out  of 
my  breast-pocket  and  handed  it  to  him. 
He  opened  it,  drew  the  cotton  aside,  and 
ran  his  fingers  lovingly  over  the  gems. 
'Yes,'  he  said,  'they  will  do.'  Then  he 
closed  the  box  again,  and  put  it  in  the 
drawer  of  the  table  at  which  he  had  taken 
a  seat.  '  If,'  he  continued,  '  his  Highness 
is  satisfied,  I  will  draw  a  draft  for  you, 
and  Count  Beziatnikoff  will  sign  it.  The 
count,'  he  went  on  to  say,  '  is  the  keeper  of 
the  Privy  Purse.  The  draft  itself  is  on 
the  London  Rothschilds,  but  they  will  cash 
it  at  Belmont's.'  I  did  not  quite  like  that 


126          The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

arrangement :  it  did  not  seem  entirely  bus 
iness-like.  '  Your  Excellency,'  I  said,  '  it 
is  the  custom  here  to  have  checks  for 
large  amounts  certified  before  they  are 
offered  in  payment.'  But  I  had  to  explain 
what  certification  meant  before  he  under 
stood  me.  '  That  is  nothing,'  he  said, 
'  that  is  nothing.  If  his  Highness  is 
pleased,  \ve  will  go  to  Belmont's  together, 
or,  if  you  prefer,  we  will  sit  here  over  a 
Sam  Ward  and  let  one  of  the  hotel-clerks 
go  to  the  bank  in  our  stead.'  There 
seemed  to  me  nothing  objectionable  in 
that  suggestion  ;  for,  after  all,  I  could  not 
exact  of  any  one,  however  grand-ducal  he 
might  be,  to  go  about  with  a  hundred  and 
ten  thousand  dollars  in  his  waistcoat." 

"  Or  in  his  trousers  either." 

"  Or  in  his  trousers  either,  as  you  very 
properly  put  it.  Now,  Mr.  Jones — Mr. 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         127 

Leigh,  look  at  me  ;  Colonel  Barker — col 
onel — I  am  coming  to  the  point.  Where's 
that  waiter  ?  Gentlemen,  see  here  ;  watch 
that  man  there — watch  Jones.  Don't 
take  your  eyes  off  Mr.  Jones,  but  listen,  all 
of  you,  to  what  I  say.  Mr.  Leigh,  you  are 
looking  at  me  :  look  at  your  friend,  col 
onel,  I  insist.  Mr.  Jones,  you,  if  you  care 
to,  can  look  at  me.  Now,  gentlemen, 
now — " 

"  Have  you  got  a  camera  concealed 
about  your  person  ?  " 

"  No,  I  have  not,  but  I  have  something 
that  came  from  one.  You  wait  a  minute, 
and  I'll  show  it  to  you.  I'll  show  it  to  you 
all.  Where  did  I  leave  off  ?  " 

"  In  his  waistcoat-pocket." 

"Thank  you:  so  I  did.  Well,  gentle 
men,  we  sat  there  talking  as  pleasantly  as 
you  please.  The  Russian  joked  a  bit,  and 


128          The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

said  that  he  wanted  a  certified  check  from 
me, — the  check  for  his  commission,  you 
remember, — and  presently  he  got  up  and 
said  he  would  see  what  was  delaying  his 
Highness.  So  I  sat  awhile,  twirling  my 
thumbs.  Five  minutes  passed,  ten  min 
utes  passed.  I  looked  at  my  watch  :  it 
was  almost  half-past  two.  That  draft, 
I  told  myself,  won't  be  cashed  to-day.  I 
went  to  the  window  and  looked  out.  I 
went  to  the  door :  there  was  no  one  in 
the  hall  but  a  chambermaid.  I  went  back 
to  my  seat,  and  then,  moved  by  my  own 
uneasiness,  I  opened  the  drawer  of  the 
table.  The  box  was  gone  !  I  took  the 
drawer  out.  It  was  one  that  extended  the 
entire  width  of  the  table  :  the  further  end 
of  it  had  been  cut  off.  I  looked  down  and 
in  through  the  place  from  which  I  had 
taken  it.  I  could  see  into  the  next  room  ! 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         129 

I  pulled  the  table  to  one  side,  and  there, 
just  where  the  drawer  had  touched  the 
door  against  which  it  had  stood,  was  an 
oblong  opening  cut  through  the  woodwork 
of  the  door  itself.  I  was  down-stairs  in  an 
instant.  Gentlemen,  the  grand  duke  had 
gone  to  Philadelphia  that  very  morning. 
No  such  person  as  Prince  Zaroguine 
lodged  in  the  hotel.  The  clerk  came  up 
stairs  with  me.  '  That  room,'  he  said,  '  is 
occupied  by  a  Frenchman,  and  the  adjoin 
ing  room  belongs  to  a  man  who  registered 
from  Boston.  Why,  that's  his  picture 
there!'  he  exclaimed,  pointing  to  the 
picture  of  the  grand  duke.  '  I  did  not 
even  know  that  they  were  acquainted.  But 
they  will  be  back ;  they  have  left  their 
things ;  they  haven't  even  paid  their  bills.' 
I  did  not  wait  for  their  return  :  if  I  had  I 
might  be  waiting  still.  But  I  took  the 
9 


130         The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies. 

photograph,  and  down  to  Inspector  Byrnes 
I  posted.  '  That,'  said  he,  '  that  is  the  pic 
ture  of  one  of  the  'cutest  rogues  in  the 
land.  He  has  as  many  names  as  the  Czar 
of  Russia  himself.'  And  the  original  of 
that  picture —  Gentlemen,  here, — Mr. 
Leigh,  here, — colonel,  here  is  the  picture 
itself.  I  have  kept  it  with  me  ever  since. 
The  original  of  that  picture  sits  before 
you.  Hold  on  to  him,  colonel.  Jones,  if 
you  move  I'll  put  a  bullet  through  you. 
Mr.  Leigh,  do  you  ring  for  the  police. 
Hold  him,  colonel.  Disgorge,  you  scoun 
drel,  disgorge  I  I  have  got  you  at  last !  " 
And  then,  before  the  astonished  gaze  of 
Alphabet  Jones,  Colonel  Barker  faded  in  a 
mist,  Mr.  Fairbanks  lost  his  rotundity,  his 
black  coat  changed  to  a  blue  swallow-tail 
with  brass  buttons,  he  grew  twenty  years 
younger,  and,  so  far  from  being  violent, 


The  Grand  Duke's  Rubies.         131 

he  seemed  rather  apologetic  than  other 
wise. 

"  It's  six  o'clock,  sir,"  he  said.  "  Will 
you  order  anything  before  the  bar  closes  ?  " 

Alphabet  blinked  his  eyes.  He  was 
lying  in  a  cramped  position  on  the  sofa. 
He  was  uncomfortable  and  very  hot.  He 
pulled  himself  together  and  looked  around. 
Save  for  the  waiter  and  himself,  the  room 
was  deserted. 

"  Is  there  any  baccarat  going  on  up 
stairs  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  No,  sir  ;  the  gentlemen  are  just  going 
away." 

"Well,  well,"  he  mused,  "  that  was  vivid. 
H'm  !  I'll  work  it  up  as  an  actual  occur 
rence  and  send  it  on  to  the  Interstate:  it 
will  be  good  for  the  two  hundred  and  fifty 
which  I  meant  to  make  at  baccarat. — I  say, 
waiter,  get  me  a  Remsen  cooler,  please." 


A  MAID  OF  MODERN  ATHENS. 


"  IT  was  this  way,"  she  said,  and  as  she 
spoke  she  stooped  and  flicked  a  speck 
of  dust  from  her  habit.  "  It  was  this  way  : 
The  existence  which  I  lead  in  the  minds  of 
other  people  is  absolutely  of  no  importance 
whatever.  Now  wait :  I  care  a  great  deal 
whether  school  keeps  or  not,  but  in  caring 
I  try  chiefly  to  be  true  to  myself.  I  may 
stumble  ;  I  may  not.  In  any  event  I  seek  the 
best.  As  for  the  scandal  of  which  you  speak, 
that  is  nonsense.  There  is  no  criterion. 
That  which  is  permissible  here  is  inhibited 
yonder,  and  what  is  permissible  yonder  is 
inhibited  here.  Scandal,  indeed  !  " 
132 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         133 

There  was  something  about  her  that 
stirred  the  pulse.  She  was  fair  ;  the  sort 
of  girl  whose  photograph  is  an  abomina 
tion,  and  yet  in  whose  face  and  being  a 
charm  resides,  a  charm  intangible  and  co 
ercive,  inciting  to  better  things.  A  Joan 
of  Arc  in  a  tailor-made  gown. 

"You  remember  how  it  was  when  we 
were  younger —  You — well,  there  is  no 
use  in  going  into  that.  You  had  a  mother 
to  think  for  you  ;  I  had  no  one.  I  had  to 
solve  problems  unassisted.  The  weightiest 
of  all  was  marriage,  and  that,  in  my  qual 
ity  of  heiress,  I  found  perplexing  to  a 
degree.  But  how  is  it  possible,  I  asked 
myself,  how  can  a  girl  pledge  her  life  to  a 
man  of  whom  she  knows  absolutely  noth 
ing  ?  For,  practically  speaking,  what  does 
the  average  girl  know  of  the  man  whose 
name  she  takes  ?  It  may  be  different  in 


134        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens, 

the  country,  but  in  town  !  Listen  to  me  ; 
a  girl  '  comes  out,'  as  the  saying  is  ;  she 
meets  a  number  of  men,  the  majority  of 
whom  are  more  or  less  agreeable  and  well- 
bred — when  she  is  present.  But  what  are 
they  when  she  is  not?  At  dinners  and 
routs,  or  when  she  receives  them  in  her 
own  house,  they  are  at  their  best ;  if  they 
are  not  they  stay  away.  It  is  not  so  diffi 
cult  to  be  agreeable  once  in  awhile,  but  to 
be  so  always  is  a  question  not  of  mask  but 
of  nature.  It  seems  to  me  that  when  an 
intelligent  woman  admires  her  brother  it  is 
because  that  brother  is  really  an  admirable 
man.  Has  she  not  every  opportunity  of 
judging  ?  But  what  opportunity  is  given 
to  the  girl  whom  a  man  happens  to  take  in 
and  out  at  dinner,  or  whom  she  sees  for  an 
hour  or  two  now  and  then  ?  You  must 
admit  that  her  facilities  are  slight.  That 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         135 

was  the  way  it  was  with  me,  and  that  was 
the  way  I  fancied  it  would  continue  to  be, 
and  I  determined  that  it  was  better  to  re 
main  spinster  forever  than  to  take  a  man 
on  trust  and  find  that  trust  misplaced.  Sus 
picious  ?  No,  I  am  not  suspicious.  When 
your  husband  bought  this  property  did  you 
think  him  suspicious  because  he  had  the 
title  searched?  Very  good ;  then  perhaps 
you  will  tell  me  that  the  marriage  contract 
is  less  important  than  the  conveyance  of 
real  estate  ?  Besides,  my  doubts  on  the 
subject  of  love  would  have  defied  a  cata 
logue.  When  I  read  of  the  follies  and 
transports  of  which  it  was  reported  to  be 
the  prime  factor,  I  was  puzzled.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  I  had  either  a  fibre 
more  or  a  fibre  less  than  other  girls,  I 
could  not  comprehend.  No  man  I  had 
ever  met — and  certainly  I  had  met  many — 


136         A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

had  ever  caused  me  so  much  as  a  fleeting 
emotion.  There  were  men  with  whom  I 
found  speech  agreeable  and  argument  a 
pleasure,  but,  had  they  worn  frocks  instead 
of  trousers,  such  enjoyment  as  I  expe 
rienced  would  have  been  unimpaired. 
You  see,  it  was  purely  mental.  And  when 
— there,  I  remember  one  man  in  particular. 
As  Stella  said  of  Swift,  he  could  talk  beau 
tifully  about  a  broomstick.  He  knew  the 
reason  of  things  ;  he  was  up  in  cuneiform 
inscriptions  and  at  home  with  meteorites ; 
he  was  not  prosy,  and,  what  is  more  to  the 
point,  he  never  treated  a  subject  as  though 
it  were  a  matter  of  life  and  death.  He 
was  not  bad-looking,  either,  and  he  was 
the  only  man  of  my  acquaintance  who  both 
understood  Kant  and  got  his  coats  from 
Poole.  That  man  I  liked  very  much.  He 
was  better  than  a  book.  I  could  ask  him 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.        137 

questions,  a  thing  you  can't  do  even  of  an 
encyclopaedia.  One  fine  day  the  personal 
pronoun  cropped  out.  We  had  been  dis 
cussing  Herbert  Spencer's  theory  of  con- 
ceivability,  and  abruptly,  with  an  inappo- 
siteness  which,  now  I  think  of  it,  would 
have  been  admirable  on  the  stage,  but 
which  in  the  drawing-room  was  certainly 
misplaced,  he  asked  me  to  take  a  walk 
with  him  down  the  aisle  of  the  swellest 
church  in  the  commonwealth.  I  mourned 
his  loss,  as  we  say.  But  wasn't  it  stupid 
of  him  ?  But  what  does  get  into  men  ? 
Why  should  they  think  that,  because  a  girl 
is  liberal  with  odd  evenings,  she  is  pining 
for  the  marriage  covenant  ?  " 

With  the  whip  she  held  she  gave  the 
hem  of  her  habit  a  sudden  lash. 

"  That  episode  gave  me  food  for  thought. 
H'm.  By-and-by  the  scene  was  occu- 


138        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

pied  by  a  young  man  who  was  an  authority 
on  orchids,  and  wrote  sonnets  for  the 
Interstate.  My  dear,  a  more  guileful  little 
wretch  never  breathed.  When  my  previous 
young  man  disappeared,  I  felt  that  I  had 
been  hasty.  I  desired  nothing  so  much  as 
an  increase  in  my  store  of  knowledge,  and 
I  determined  that  if  another  opportunity 
occurred  I  would  not  be  in  such  a  hurry 
to  shut  the  door  on  entertaining  develop 
ments.  Consequently,  when  my  poet 
turned  up,  I  was  as  demure  as  you  please. 
He  was  a  fox,  that  man.  He  began  with 
the  fixed  purpose  of  irritating  me  into  lik 
ing  him.  The  tactics  he  displayed  were 
unique.  He  never  came  when  I  expected 
him,  and  when  he  did  come  he  was  careful 
to  go  just  when  he  thought  he  had  scored 
a  point.  If  any  other  man  happened  in,  he 
first  eclipsed  him  and  then  left  him  to  me. 


A  Ma  ill  of  Modern  At 'hens.         139 

I  saw  through  that  game  at  once.  He 
understood  perfectly  that  if  I  preferred 
the  other  man  I  was  all  the  more  obliged 
to  him  for  going,  and  if  I  preferred  him 
to  the  other  man  I  was  the  sorrier  to 
see  him  leave.  In  addition  to  this,  what 
ever  subject  I  broached,  he  led  it  by  tan 
gential  flights  to  Love.  That  Machiavelli 
en  herbe  knew  that  to  talk  love  is  to  make 
love.  And  talk  of  love  he  did,  no,  but 
in  the  most  impersonal  manner.  To  hear 
him  discant  you  would  have  thought  his 
wings  were  sprouting.  Love,  as  he  ex 
pressed  it,  was  a  sentiment  which  ennobled 
every  other;  a  purifying  and  exalting  light. 
It  was  the  most  gracious  of  despots.  It 
banished  the  material  ;  it  beckoned  to  the 
ideal.  It  turned  satiety  into  a  vagabond 
that  had  not  where  to  lay  its  head.  It  was 
the  reduction  of  the  world,  creation,  and  all 


140        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

the  universe  to  a  single  being.  It  was  an 
enchanted  upland,  inhibited  to  the  herd. 
It  was  a  chimera  to  the  vulgar,  a  crown  to 
the  refined.  '  A  perfect  lover,'  he  said, 
'  must  needs  be  an  aristocrat.'  And  if  you 
will  believe  me,  I  actually  thought  he 
meant  what  he  said.  In  spite  of  myself,  I 
was  becoming  interested.  There  were  new 
horizons  before  me.  I  seemed  to  discern 
something  hitherto  unseen.  My  dear,  for 
the  moment  I  felt  myself  going.  I  was  at 
the  foot  of  his  enchanted  upland.  I  was 
almost  willing  to  take  him  for  guide.  At 
first  I  had  been  merely  amused.  Once, 
even,  when  he  quoted  the  '  Two  souls  with 
but  a  single  thought,'  I  suggested  that  that 
must  mean  but  half  a  thought  apiece.  The 
quiet  dignity  which  he  then  displayed  almost 
fetched  me.  He  had  the  air  of  a  prelate 
in  whose  presence  an  oaf  has  trampled  on 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.        141 

a  crucifix.  He  kept  up  that  sort  of  thing 
for  two  months.  To  me  his  sincerity  was 
beyond  peradventure.  Not  once  did'he 
speak  in  a  personal  way.  I  was  beginning 
to  wonder  when  he  would  stop  beating 
about  the  bush,  and  I  not  only  wondered, 
I  believe  I  even  wished  that  he  would  be 
a  little  more  enterprising  and  a  trifle  less 
immaterial.  Presently  I  detected  a  symp 
tom  or  two  which  told  me  that  the  end  of 
the  beginning  was  in  sight.  I  suppose  my 
manner  was  more  encouraging.  In  any 
event,  one  evening  he  took  my  hand  and 
kissed  it.  From  nine-and-ninety  men  out 
of  a  hundred  I  should  have  thought  nothing 
of  such  a  thing.  In  Europe  it  is  an  empty 
homage,  a  pantomime  expressive  of  thanks. 
As  I  say,  then,  in  any  other  man  I  should  not 
have  given  it  a  second  thought,  but  he  had 
never  done  it  before. 


142        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

"  The  next  day  I  lunched  with  Mrs. 
Bunker  Hill.  I  mentioned  his  name ;  I 
suppose  it  was  running  in  my  mind.  And 
then,  my  dear,  Fanny  began.  Well,  the 
things  she  told  me  about  that  transcenden 
tal  young  man  were  of  such  a  nature  that 
when  he  next  called  I  was  not  at  home. 
He  came  again,  of  course.  And  again. 
He  sent  me  a  note  which  I  returned  un 
opened.  That,  I  confess,  was  a  foolish 
thing  to  do.  It  showed  him  that  I  was 
annoyed.  I  might  better  have  left  it  un 
answered.  After  all,  there  is  nothing  so 
impenetrable  as  silence.  Finally,  he  got 
one  of  his  friends  to  come  and  reconnoitre. 
Indeed,  he  did  not  desist  until  I  had 
an  opportunity  of  cutting  him  dead.  I 
was  angry,  I  admit  it.  And  it  was  after 
that  little  experience  that  I  determined,  the 
next  time  I  felt  myself  going,  I  would 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.        143 

make  sure  beforehand  where  I  was  going 
to.  H'm.  I  wonder  what  his  sister 
thought  of  him  ?  You  see,  it  was  not  that 
I  had  fallen  in  love ;  the  word  was  as  un 
intelligible  to  me  as  before,  but  I  had  fan 
cied  that,  through  him,  I  might  intercept 
some  inkling  of  its  meaning,  and  I  was  put 
out  at  having  been  tricked.  Ach  /  diese 
Manner  /" 

Beneath  descending  night  the  sky  was 
gold-barred  and  green.  In  the  east  the 
moon  glittered  like  a  sickle  of  tin.  The 
air  was  warm  and  freighted  with  the  odors 
of  August.  You  could  hear  the  crickets 
hum,  and  here  and  there  was  the  spark  of 
a  fire-fly  gyrating  in  loops  of  flame.  From 
across  the  meadows  came  the  slumbrous 
tinkle  of  a  bell. 

She  raised  a  gloved  hand  to  her  brow 
and  looked  down  at  the  yellow  road.  To 


1 44        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 


one  who  loved  her,  the  Helen  for  whom 
the  war  of  the  world  was  fought  was  not 
so  fair  as  she.  And  presently  the  hand 
moved  about  the  brow,  and,  resting  a 
second's  space  on  the  coil  just  above  the 
neck,  fell  again  to  her  side. 

"Well,"  she  continued,  "you  can  see 
how  it  was.  Even  before  the  illusion, 
disillusionment  had  come.  That  winter 
I  went  with  the  Bunker  Hills  to  Monaco. 
Were  it  not  for  the  riff-raff,  that  place 
would  be  a  paradise  in  duodecimo.  We 
had  a  villa,  of  course.  One  evening, 
shortly  after  our  arrival,  we  went  to  the 
Casino.  For  the  fun  of  the  thing  I  put 
some  money  on  the  Trente  et  Quarante.  I 
did  nothing  but  win.  It  was  tiresome  ;  I 
would  rather  have  lost ;  I  had  to  speak 
to  the  dealer,  and  that,  as  you  can  fancy, 
was  not  to  my  liking.  There  was  a  great 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Atli&ns.         145 

crowd.  One  little  old  woman  put  money 
wherever  I  did.  She  won  a  lot,  too.  But 
one  man,  whom  I  could  not  help  noticing, 
backed  red  when  I  was  on  black,  and  vice 
versa.  He  did  it  persistently,  intention 
ally,  and  he  lost  every  time.  Finally  one 
of  the  croupiers  told  me  that  my  stake  was 
above  the  maximum,  and  asked  how  much 
I  would  risk.  I  was  tired  of  answering  his 
questions,  and  I  turned  away.  A  lackey 
followed  me  with  a  salver  covered  with 
gold  and  notes — the  money  I  had  won. 
I  didn't  want  it ;  I  had  not  even  a  pocket 
to  put  it  in,  and  the  purse  which  I  held  in 
my  hand  would  not  have  held  a  fraction 
of  it.  It  was  a  nuisance.  I  turned  it 
over  to  Bunker,  and  presently  \ve  all  went 
out  on  the  terrace  that  overhangs  the  sea. 
It  was  a  perfect  night.  In  the  air  was 
a  caress,  and  from  the  Mediterranean 
10 


146        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

came  a  tonic.  While  I  was  enjoying  it 
all,  a  beggar  ambled  up  on  a  crutch  and 
begged  a  franc.  I  took  from  Bunker  the 
money  I  had  won  and  gave  him  thirty 
thousand.  You  should  have  heard 
Bunker  then.  I  actually  believe  that  if 
I  had  been  his  wife  instead  of  his  guest 
he  would  have  struck  me.  I  suppose  it 
was  an  absurd  thing  to  do.  But  the  next 
time  you  are  in  search  of  a  new  sensation 
do  something  of  the  same  sort.  The 
beggar  became  transfigured.  He  looked 
at  the  gold  and  notes,  and  then  at  me.  I 
do  not  think  I  shall  ever  forget  the  expres 
sion  in  his  face.  Did  you  ever  see  a  child 
asleep — a  child  to  whom  some  wonderful 
dream  has  come  ?  It  was  at  once  infantile 
and  radiant.  And  all  the  while  Bunker 
was  abusing  me  like  a  pickpocket.  The 
beggar  gave  me  one  look,  dropped  on  his 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         147 

knees,  caught  the  hem  of  my  skirt,  kissed 
it,  threw  away  his  crutch,  and  ran.  I 
burst  out  laughing,  and  Bunker,  in  spite  of 
his  rage,  burst  out  laughing  too.  Fanny 
called  us  a  pair  of  idiots,  and  said  that  if  I 
was  as  lavish  as  that  it  would  be  better 
and  wiser,  and  far  more  Christian,  to  keep 
my  money  for  indigent  and  deserving 
Bostonese,  than  to  bestow  it  as  a  premium 
on  Monacean  vice  and  effrontery.  Just  as 
she  was  working  herself  into  big  words 
and  short  sentences,  the  man  whom  I  had 
noticed  at  the  tables  came  along.*  He 
had  met  her  before,  and  now,  as  he 
expressed  it,  he  precipitated  himself  to 
renew  the  expression  of  his  homage. 
Fanny,  after  introducing  him  to  me,  began 
at  once  on  the  tale  of  my  misconduct.  He 
had  a  complexion  of  the  cream-tint  order, 
and  a  moustache  blacker  than  hate.  He 


148        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

was  a  Florentine,  I  discovered,  a  marquis 
with  a  name  made  up  of  v's,  sonorous  o's, 
and  n's.  We  had  found  a  table,  and 
Bunker  ordered  some  ices.  The  night 
was  really  so  perfect,  and -the  ice  so  good, 
that,  like  Mine,  de  Stae'l  over  her  sherbet 
in  moonlit  Venice,  I  almost  wished  it 
were  a  sin  to  sit  there.  The  marquis  was 
in  very  good  form  and  inclined  to  do  the 
devoted  on  the  slighest  provocation. 

"'Is  mademoiselle,'  he  asked  me,  'is 
mademoiselle  as  disdainful  of  the  heart  as 
she  is  of  gold  ? ' 

'"Absolutely,"  I  answered — a  remark 
which  may  have  sounded  snobbish,  but 
still  was  wholly  true. 

"  '  Ah  ! '  he  exclaimed.  :  there  are  birds 
that  do  not  sing  untaught.' 

"'You  are  beginning    well,'    I    thought. 

The   next  day  he  lunched    with  us,  and 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         149 

came  again  in  the  evening.  In  addition  to 
his  marquisate,  he  had  a  fluty  tenorino 
voice  ;  what  they  call  a  voix  de  salon.  He 
sang  all  sorts  of  things  for  us,  and  he  sang 
them  very  well.  When  the  air  was  lively 
he  looked  at  Fanny,  when  it  was  sentimen 
tal  he  looked  at  me.  Thereafter  I  saw  a 
great  deal  of  him.  One  day  we  would 
make  up  a  party  for  Nice,  on  another  we 
would  go  to  San  Remo,  or  else  back  in  the 
mountains,  or  to  Grasse.  Of  course,  as 
you  know,  customs  over  there  are  such 
that  he  had  no  opportunity  of  being  alone 
with  me,  even  for  a  second ;  but  he  had  an 
art  of  making  love  in  public  which  must 
have  been  the  result  of  long  practice.  It 
was  both  open  and  discreet.  It  was  not 
in  words ;  it  was  in  the  inflection  of  the 
voice  and  in  the  paying  of  the  thousand 
and  one  little  attentions  which  foreigners 


150        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

perform  so  well.  Now,  to  me,  a  tiara 
might  be  becoming,  but  it  is  an  ornament 
for  which  I  have  never  felt  the  vaguest 
covetousness.  Moreover,  I  had  no  inten 
tion  of  marrying  an  Italian,  however  fabu 
lous  the  ancestry  of  that  Italian  might  be. 
And,  besides,  the  attentions  of  which  I  was 
the  apparent  object  were,  I  knew,  ad 
dressed  less  to  me  than  to  the  blue  eyes 
of  my  check-book.  The  Florentine  noble 
man  who  is  disposed  to  marry  a  dowerless 
American  is  yet  to  be  heard  from.  This 
by  the  way.  However,  I  accepted  the  at 
tentions  with  becoming  grace,  and  marked 
the  cunning  of  his  tricks.  One  evening  he 
did  not  put  in  an  appearance,  but  at  mid 
night,  I  heard,  on  the  road  before  my  win 
dow,  the  tinkle  of  a  guitar.  I  did  not 
need  to  peer  through  the  curtains  to  know 
from  whom  it  came.  First  he  sang  a  song 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         151 

of  Tosti's,  and  then  the  serenade  from 
"  Don  Pasquale  :  " 

'  Com'  e  gentil,  la  notte  in  mezz'  Aprile. 

****** 
Poi  quando  saro  morto,  tu  piangerai 
Ma  ritornarmi  in  vita,  tu  non  potrai.' 

Sentimental  ?  Yes,  sentimental  to  the 
last  degree.  But  on  the  Riviera,  in  spring, 
and  at  night,  one's  fancy  turns  to  that 
sort  of  thing  with  astounding  ease.  I  lis 
tened  with  unalloyed  pleasure.  It  was 
like  a  Boccaccian  echo.  And  as  I  lis 
tened  I  wondered  whether  I  should  ever 
learn  what  love  might  be.  The  idea  of 
taking  a  course  of  lessons  from  a  man 
who  strummed  on  a  guitar  in  front  of  my 
window  never  entered  my  head.  The 
next  day  Fanny  came  to  me  in  a  state  of 
great  excitement.  The  guitarist,  it  ap 
peared,  had,  with  all  proper  and  due  for- 


152        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

mality,  asked  leave  to  place  his  coronet  at 
my  feet.     Ce  que  f  ai  ri  ! 

"  You  can  hear  Fanny  from  here.  She 
accused  me  of  flirting  with  the  man. 
'You  have  no  right,'  she  said,  'to  treat 
him  as  though  he  were  a  college  boy  at  Mt. 
Desert.'  What  he  had  done  to  make  her 
so  vicious  I  never  discovered.  It  must 
have  been  the  title,  a  title  always  went  to 
her  head.  Poor  Fanny!  That  evening, 
when  he  came,  she  declined  to  be  present. 
I  had  to  see  him  alone.  My  dear,  he  was 
too  funny.  He  had  prepared  a  little 
speech  which  he  got  off  very  well,  only  at 
the  end  of  it  he  lapsed  into  English.  'We 
will  loaf,'  he  said,  '  we  will  be  always  loaf 
ers.'  He  meant,  of  course,  to  assert  that 
we  should  love  and  be  always  lovers,  but 
the  intricacies  of  our  pronunciation  were 
too  much  for  him.  I  could  have  died,  it 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         153 

was  so  amusing.  I  managed,  however,  to 
keep  a  straight  face.  '  Marquis,'  I  said, 
'  I  am  deeply  honored,  but  your  invitation 
is  one  that  I  am  unable  to  accept.'  A 
more  astounded  man  you  never  saw.  He 
really  thought  that  he  had  but  to  ask,  and 
it  would  be  given.  He  declined  to  take 
No  for  an  answer.  He  said  he  would 
wait.  Actually,  he  was  so  pertinacious 
that  I  had  to  drag  Fanny  up  to  Paris.  He 
followed  us  in  the  next  train.  There  was 
no  getting  rid  of  him  at  all.  If  he  sent 
me  one  note  he  sent  me  a  hundred,  and 
notes  ten  pages  each,  at  the  very  least. 
Finally,  as  you  heard,  he  tried  the  dra 
matic.  One  afternoon,  while  I  was  out 
shopping,  he  bribed  a  waiter  at  the  hotel 
where  we  lodged.  When  I  returned,  there 
he  was,  waiting  for  me.  '  At  last,'  he 
cried,  '  at  last  we  are  face  to  face.  You 


154        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 


think  I  do  not  love.  Cruel  one,  behold 
me  !  I  love  as  no  mortal  ever  loved  be 
fore.  See,  I  die  at  your  feet ! '  And  there, 
before  my  very  eyes,  he  whipped  out  a 
pistol,  pulled  the  trigger,  tumbled  over  and 
seemed  fully  disposed  to  carry  out  the 
programme  to  the  end.  He  had  shot  him 
self  ;  there  was  no  doubt  about  that ;  but  he 
had  shot  himself  in  such  an  intelligent 
manner,  that,  though  there  was  blood 
enough  to  frighten  a  sensitive  young  per 
son  out  of  her  wits,  yet  of  danger  there 
was  none  at  all.  Talk  to  me  about  come 
dians  !  When  I  discovered  the  farce 
which  had  been  enacted  with  the  sole  ob 
ject  of  stirring  my  sympathies  into  affec 
tion,  I  was  flabbergasted  at  the  wiles  of 
man. 

"  It   was   after   that  episode  that  I    re 
turned    to    Beacon  Street.       It   was  there 


A  Maid  of  Modem  Athens,         155 

that  what  you  are  pleased  to  call  the  scan 
dal  began.  Fanny,  whose  desire  to 
marry  me  off  was  simply  epic,  one  day 
caught  an  Englishman  ;  young,  so  she 
said,  and  good-looking.  And  that  English 
man,  she  made  up  her  mind,  I  should  en 
snare.  Fanny,  as  you  know,  was  possessed 
with  an  ungratified  desire  to  pay  annual 
visits  to  swell  country  houses  on  the  other 
side.  Hence,  I  suppose,  her  efforts. 
Having  caught  the  Englishman,  the  next 
step  was  to  serve  him  up  in  becoming 
form.  To  that  end  she  gave  a  tentative 
dinner.  I  got  to  it  late  ;  in  fact,  I  was 
the  last  to  arrive.  Fanny,  I  could  see,  was 
in  a  state  of  feverish  excitement.  She 
presented  to  me  one  or  two  men, 
whose  names  I  did  not  catch,  and  a 
moment  later  one  of  them  gave  me  his 
arm.  When  we  wrere  seated  at  table, 


156        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

and  while  he  was  sticking  a  chrysanthe 
mum  in  his  button-hole,  I  glanced  at  the 
card  on  his  plate.  It  bore  for  legend 
Lord  Alfred  Harrow.  It  was  then  I  took 
my  first  look  at  him.  My  dear,  he  was 
the  ugliest  man  I  have  ever  seen  ;  he  was 
so  ugly  that  he  was  positively  attractive. 
His  mouth  was  large  enough  to  sing  a 
duet,  but  his  teeth  were  whiter  than  mine." 

As  she  spoke  she  curled  her  lips. 

"  There  was  no  hair  on  his  face,  and  his 
features  were  those  of  a  middle-ao-ed 

o 

wizard.  But  about  him  was  the  atmos 
phere  of  health,  of  strength,  too,  and  his 
hands,  though  bronzed  and  sinewy,  were 
perfect.  I  knew  he  was  a  thoroughbred  at 
once.  '  And  how  do  you  like  the  States  ? ' 
I  asked.  He  was  squeezing  some  lemon 
on  an  oyster,  and  I  noticed  that  when 
some  white  wine  was  offered  him  he  turned 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         157 

the  glass  upside  down.  '  Very  much,'  he 
answered  ;  '  and  you  ? '  There  was  more  of 
that  sort  of  thing,  and  finally  I  asked  him 
if,  like  other  Englishmen,  he  thought  that 
Boston  suggested  one  of  his  provincial 
towns.  '  There  seems  to  be  some  mis 
take,'  he  said.  '  I  was  going  into  the 
Somerset  five  minutes  ago  when  Hill  cor- 
alled  me.  He  told  me  that  his  wife  was 
giving  a  dinner,  and  that  at  the  last 
moment  one  of  the  bidden  had  wired  to 
the  effect  that  he  was  prevented  from  com 
ing.  Whereupon  Mrs.  Hill  had  packed 
him  off  to  the  club,  with  instructions  to 
bring  back  the  first  man  he  met.  I  hap 
pened  to  be  that  man.'  He  took  up  the 
card.  '  Lord  Alfred  is,  I  fancy,  the  delin 
quent.  My  name,'  he  added,  '  is  Mr.  Stitt 
— Ferris  Stitt,'  he  continued,  as  though 
apologizing  for  its  inconsequence. 


158         A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

"  After  that  we  got  on  famously.  In  a 
day  or  two  he  came  to  the  house.  When 
he  left  the  world  was  larger.  He  knew 
nothing  about  poetry.  He  had  never  so 
much  as  heard  of  Fichte.  Herbert  Spen 
cer  was  to  him  a  name  and  nothing  more. 
The  only  works  of  ornamental  literature 
which  he  seemed  to  have  read  were  the 
Arabian  Nights,  which  he  had  forgotten, 
and  something  of  Dickens,  which  had  put 
him  to  sleep.  He  did  not  know  one  note 
of  music  from  another.  But  he  had  hunted 
big  game  in  Africa,  in  Bengal,  and  he  had 
penetrated  Thibet.  He  had  been  in  Ice 
land  and  among  the  Caribs.  No  carpet 
knight  was  he. 

"  My  dear,  I  had  not  seen  him  five  times 
before  I  felt  myself  going.  I  think  he 
knew  it.  But  I  had  been  cheated  before, 
and  so  well  that  I  held  on  with  all  my 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.        159" 

strength.  While  I  was  holding  on,  he  dis 
appeared.  Not  a  word,  not  a  line,  not 
even  so  much  as  a  p.  p.  c.  In  the  course 
of  time,  through  the  merest  accident,  I 
learned  that  he  was  in  Yucatan.  Six 
months  later  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  him  in 
the  street.  Presently  he  called. 

"  At  once,  without  so  much  as  a  pream 
ble,  he  told  me  he  had  gone  away  that  in 
absence  he  might  learn  whether  I  was  as 
dear  to  him  as  he  thought.  He  hesitated 
a  moment.  '  Will  you  let  me  love  you  ? ' 
he  asked.  '  You  have  been  prudent,'  I 
answered  ;  '  let  me  be  prudent,  too.'  Then 
I  told  him  of  my  disenchantments.  I  told 
him  how  difficult  I  found  it  to  discover 
what  men  really  were.  I  told  him,  as  I 
have  told  you,  that  it  seemed  to  me,  if  an 
intelligent  girl  admired  her  brother,  it  was 
because  that  brother  was  assuredlv  an  ad- 


160        A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

mirable  man.  And  I  added  that  I  would 
accept  no  man  until  I  had  the  same  oppor 
tunities  of  judging  him  as  a  sister  has 
of  judging  her  brother.  Besides,  I  said,  I 
have  yet  to  know  what  love  may  be.  It 
was  then  that  we  made  the  agreement  of 
which  you  disapprove.  After  all,  it  was 
my  own  suggestion,  and,  if  unconventional, 
in  what  does  the  criterion  consist  ?  I  was 
acting  for  the  best.  You  do  not  imagine, 
do  you,  that  I  regret  it  ?  " 

And  to  her  lips  came  a  smile. 

"  I  took  Mary,  who,  you  must  admit,  is 
respectability  personified,  and  whom  I  had 
long  since  elevated  from  nurse  to  sheep 
dog — I  took  Mary,  and,  together,  all  three 
of  us,  we  went  abroad.  It  is  in  travelling 
that  you  get  to  know  a  man.  Each  even 
ing,  when  he  said  good-night,  my  admira 
tion  had  increased.  From  England,  as 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         161 

you  know,  we  went  straight  to  India.  It 
was  a  long  trip,  I  had  heard,  but  to  me  it 
seemed  needlessly  brief.  During  the  en 
tire  journey  I  studied  him  as  one  studies 
a  new  science.  I  watched  him  as  a  cat 
watches  a  mouse.  Not  once  did  he  do 
the  slightest  thing  that  jarred.  During 
the  entire  journey  he  did  not  so  much 
as  attempt  to  take  my  hand  in  his.  He 
knew,  I  suppose,  as  I  knew,  that  if  the 
time  ever  came  I  would  give  it  unasked. 

One  evening,  on  going  to  my  stateroom, 
I  found  I  had  left  my  vinaigrette  on 
deck.  Mary  was  asleep.  I  went  back  for 
it  alone.  It  was  very  dark.  On  the  way 
to  where  I  had  sat  I  heard  his  voice  ;  he 
was  talking  to  one  of  the  passengers.  In 
spite  of  myself  I  listened  to  what  he  was 
saying.  I  listened  for  nearly  an  hour. 
Not  one  word  was  there  in  it  all  that  he 
ii 


1 62         A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens. 

could  not  have  said  to  me.  When  I  got 
back  to  my  cabin  I  wondered  whether  it 
might  not  be  that  he  knew  I  was  standing 
there.  Yes,  I  admit,  I  was  suspicious ;  but 
circumstances  had  made  me  so.  Oh  !  he 
has  forgiven  me  since." 

She  smiled  again  complacently  to  her 
self,  and,  tucking  the  whip  under  her  arm, 
she  drew  off  a  glove  ;  on  one  finger  was  a 
narrow  circle  of  gold.  She  looked  at  it 
and  raised  it  to  her  lips. 

"  When  we  landed  our  journey  had  prac 
tically  begun.  You  see,  I  was  still  un 
assured.  Yet  he  was  irreproachable  and 
ever  the  same.  Well,  the  details  are  unim-. 
portant.  One  day,  at  Benares,  he  heard 
that  leopards  had  been  seen  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  a  lake  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  out.  At  once  he  was  for  having  a 
crack  at  them.  I  determined  to  accom- 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         163 

pany  him.  He  was  surprised  at  first,  and 
objected  a  little,  but  I  managed,  as  I 
usually  do,  to  have  my  own  way.  It  was 
night  when  we  got  there.  We  left  the 
horses  with  the  guide,  and,  noiselessly  as 
ghosts,  we  stole  through  a  coppice  which 
hid  the  lake  from  view.  Almost  at  the 
water's  edge  we  crouched  and  waited. 
The  stars  were  white  as  lilies  and  splendid 
as  trembling  gems.  The  silence  was  as 
absolute  as  might.  How  long  we  waited  I 
cannot  now  recall.  I  think  I  dreamed  a 
bit  with  open  eyes.  Then  dimly  I  became 
conscious  of  something  moving  in  the  dis 
tance.  The  moon  had  risen  like  a  balloon 
of  gold,  and  in  the  air  was  the  scent  of 
sandal.  Slowly,  with  an  indolent  grace  of 
its  own,  that  something  neared  the  oppo 
site  shore.  As  it  reached  the  water  it 
stopped,  arched  its  back,  and  turned.  I 


164        A  Maid  cf  Modern  Athens. 

saw  then  that  it  was  a  leopard.  No,  my 
dear,  you  can  form  no  idea  of  the  beauty 
of  that  beast.  And  then  suddenly  it  threw 
its  head  back  and  called.  It  lapped  the 
water,  and  then,  with  its  tongue,  gave  its 
forcpaw  one  long,  lustrous  lick,  and  called 
again  ;  a  call  that  was  echoless,  yet  so 
resonant  I  felt  it  thrill  my  finger-tips.  In 
a  moment  its  mate  sprang  from  the 
shadows.  If  the  first  comer  was  beautiful, 
then  this  one  was  the  ideal.  There  they 
stood,  caressing  each  other  with  amber, 
insatiate  eyes.  It  was  like  a  scene  in 
fairyland.  And  as  I  watched  them,  I  felt 
a  movement  at  my  side.  I  turned.  He 
had  taken  aim  and  was  about  to  fire,  but, 
as  I  turned,  he  turned  to  me.  Those 
beasts,  I  told  myself,  are  far  too  fair  for 
death  ;  yet  I  said  not  a  word.  My  dear,  he 
read  my  unuttered  wish,  he  lowered  the 


A  Maid  of  Modern  Athens.         165 

gun,    and  then — then,   for  the    first  time, 

I  knew   what    love    might    be 

There's  the  dogcart  now.  Come  over  and 
dine  to-morrow.  If  you  care  to,  Ferris 
will  show  you  the  gun." 


FAUST A. 


THERE  are  many  beautiful  things  in  the 
world,  and  among  them,  near  the  head  of 
the  list,  stands  dawn  in  the  tropics.  It  is 
sudden  as  love,  and  just  as  fair.  Through 
out  the  night  the  ship  had  been  sailing 
beneath  larger  stars  than  ours,  in  waters 
that  were  seamed  and  sentient  with  phos 
phorus  ;  but  now  the  ship  was  in  the  har 
bor,  day  had  chased  the  stars,  the  water 
was  iridescent  as  a  syrup  of  opals,  at  the 
horizon  was  the  tenderest  pink,  overhead 
was  a  compound  of  salmon  and  of  blue ; 
and  beyond,  within  rifle  range,  was  an 
amphitheatre  of  houses  particolored  as 
1 66 


Fausta.  167 

rainbows,  surmounted  by  green  hills,  tiared 
with  the  pearl  points  of  cathedral  steeples. 
and  for  defensive  girdle,  the  yellow  walls 
of  a  crumbling  fort. 

"  On  this  side,"  thought  one  who 
lounged  on  deck,  "  it  seems  bounded  by 
beauty,"  and  he  might  have  added,  "  by 
ignorance  on  the  other."  He  was  a  good- 
looking  young  fellow,  dressed  Piccadilly- 
fashion,  and  yet,  despite  the  cut  of  his 
coat,  the  faint  umber  of  his  skin  and  the 
sultry  un-Saxon  eyes  marked  him  as  being 
of  Latin  blood.  His  name  was  Ruis  Ixar. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  certain  Don  Jayme, 
who  was  then  Governor  of  Puerto  Principe, 
and  in  Castile,  Count,  Grandee  of  Spain, 
and  Marquis,  to  boot.  Don  Jayme  had 
emptied  his  coffers  in  discreet  rivalry  of 
his  king,  and  his  king,  who  admired  prodi 
gal  fathers,  had  given  him  leave  to  replen- 


1 68  Fausta. 

ish  them  in  the  New  World.  This  per 
mission  Don  Jayme  had  for  some  time  past 
made  the  most  of,  now  by  exactions,  no\v 
by  fresh  taxes,  by  peculations  and  specula 
tions,  and  also  by  means  of  a  sugar  plan 
tation  a  few  leagues  beyond  Santiago  cle 
Cuba,  in  the  harbor  of  which  his  son,  that 
morning,  was  preparing  to  disembark. 

Don  Jayme  had  been  domiciled  in  the 
neighborhood  for  five  years,  and  the  five 
years  had  been  to  him  five  Kalpas  of 
time. 

He  felt  -desolate  as  a  lighthouse.  He 
had  come  expecting  to  make  a  rapid  for 
tune,  and  in  that  expectation  he  had  been 
wearisomely  deceived.  The  province  which 
he  had  intended  to  wring  dry  as  an  orange 
had  been  well  squeezed  by  earlier  comers, 
and  as  for  his  hacienda,  he  found  it  more 
profitable  to  let  the  cane  rot  uncut  than  to 


Faust  a.  169 

attempt  to  extract  the  sugar.  He  hated 
Cuba,  as  every  true  Spaniard  does,  and  the 
portion  of  Cuba  which  he  administered 
hated  him.  He  longed  for  Madrid,  for 
the  pomp  and  ceremonial  of  court;  and 
particularly  did  he  desire  that  his  son 
should  enjoy  an  income  suited  to  his  rank. 
Though  he  had  not  as  yet  succeeded  in 
replenishing  more  than  one  or  two  of  the 
many  emptied  coffers,  there  was  no  valid 
reason  why  his  sole  descendant  should  be 
poor.  And  if  his  son  were  rich,  the  former 
splendor  of  the  Ixars  would  blaze  anew. 
Don  Jayme  was  a  selfish  man,  as  men 
brought  up  in  court  circles  are  apt  to  be ;  he 
was  not  a  good  man,  he  was  not  even  a 
good-looking  man,  but  the  bit  of  lignum  vitae 
which  served  him  for  heart  was  all  in  all 
for  that  son.  It  was  for  him  he  had  come 
to  Cuba,  and  if  the  coming  had  been  a 


1 7  o  Fausta. 

partial  failure,  that  partial  failure  would  be 
wholly  retrieved  did  he  succeed  in  supply 
ing  the  heir  to  his  title  with  a  well-dowered 
wife. 

So  argued  Don  Jayme.  But  he  was 
careful  to  argue  with  no  one  save  his  most 
intimate  friend,  to-wit,  himself.  To  his 
son  he  said  nothing  ;  he  merely  wrote  him 
to  take  ship,  and  sail. 

It  so  happened  that  when  this  commu 
nication  was  received,  Ruis  Ixar  was  as 
anxious  for  a  trip  to  the  New  World  as 
Don  Jayme  was  for  a  return  to  the  Old. 
He  was  tired  of  the  Puerto  del  Sol ;  he  was 
tired  too  of  the  usual  young  woman  that 
lives  over  the  way.  He  wanted  a  taste  of 
adventure ;  and  moreover  obedience  to  his 
father's  behests  had  been  the  groundwork 
of  his  education.  He  had  therefore  taken 
ship  with  alacrity,  and  on  this  melting 


Fa  its  fa.  171 

morning  of  December,  as  he  gazed  for  the 
first  time  at  the  multicolored  vista  before 
him,  he  was  in  great  and  expectant  spirits. 
Concerning  the  town  itself,  had  he  been 
put  on  the  rack  he  could  have  confessed  to 
but  two  items  of  information  :  one  was  that 
his-  father  was  chief  official ;  and  the  other 
that  there  was  not  a  book-shop  within  its 
walls.  To  the  latter  fact  he  was  utterly 
indifferent ;  he  had  learned  it  haphazard 
on  the  way  over :  but  the  former  was  not 
without  its  charm.  The  influence  of  that 
charm  presently  exerted  itself.  He  was 
conveyed  from  the  ship  in  a  government 
boat,  and  two  hours  later,  while  his  fellow- 
passengers  were  still  engaged  in  feeing  the 
supervisors  of  the  custojn-house,  he  had 
reached  the  hacienda  behind  the  hills. 

The  hacienda,  or  ingenio  as   it  is  more 
properly  called,   was   several  miles  of  yel- 


172  Fausta. 

low  striated  with  red,  punctuated  with  palms 
and  cut  by  paths  that  were  shaded  with 
the  great  glistening  leaves  of  the  banana, 
while  here  and  there,  Dantesque  and 
unnatural  in  its  grandeur,  rose  the  ceiba, 
its  giant  arms  outstretched  as  though  to 
shield  the  toiler  from  the  suffocation  of  the 
purple  skies.  And  beneath,  for  contrast, 
the  brilliance  of  convolvuli  and  grana- 
dillas  opposed  the  tender  green.  At  the 
southernmost  end  was  Don  Jayme's  habi 
tation,  a  one-story  edifice,  built  quadran- 
gularwise,  tiled  and  steep  of  roof,  and  semi- 
circled  by  a  veranda  so  veiled  with  vines 
that  at  a  distance  the  house  seemed  a  mas 
sive  mound  of  pistache. 

"  Even  in  Andalusia,"  thought  Ruis,  as 
the  volante  brought  him  to  the  door, 
"there  is  nothing  equal  to  this."  Like  all 
his  race,  he  had  a  quick  eye  to  the  beauti- 


Fausta.  173 

ful,  and  for  the  moment  he  was  bewildered 
by  the  riot  of  color.  And  while  the  bewil 
derment  still  lingered,  a  gentleman,  slim 
and  tall,  entirely  in  white,  with  face  and 
hands  of  the  shade  of  Turkish  tobacco, 
kissed  him  on  either  cheek. 

"  God  be  praised,  my  son,"  he  mur 
mured,  "  you  are  here." 

And  with  that  he  led  him  into  the  cool 
of  the  veranda.  It  had  been  years  since 
they  had  met,  there  was  much  to  be  said, 
and  in  that  grave  unvociferous  fashion 
which  is  peculiar  to  the  Spaniard  of  Cas 
tile,  in  a  language  v.'hich  nightingales 
might  envy,  father  and  son  discussed 
topics  of  common  and  personal  interest. 

Thereafter  for  some  little  time,  a  fort 
night  to  be  exact,  things  went  very  well 
indeed.  Ruis  expressed  himself  enchanted 
with  his  new  home.  The  plantation  was  a 


174  Fausta. 

wonder  to  him,  the  half-naked  negroes  and 
their  wholly  nude  progeny  a  surprise,  and 
the  brutality  with  which  they  were  treated 
caused  him  a  transient  emotion.  In  tur 
tle  fishing  he  found  an  agreeable  novelty, 
and  in  the  shooting  of  doves  and  the  blue- 
headed  partridge  he  became  an  immediate 
adept.  But  when  a  fortnight  had  come 
and  gone  he  felt  vaguely  bored  ;  he  grew 
tired  of  strange  and  sticky  fruits,  the  call 
of  chromatic  birds  jarred,  discordant,  on 
his  nerves,  the  turtles  lost  their  allurement, 
the  weight  of  purple  days  oppressed  him. 
In  brief,  he  thought  he  had  quite  enough 
of  rural  life  in  the  tropics.  Aside  from  his 
father,  there  was  not,  on  the  estate,  a  soul 
of  his  own  race  with  whom  he  could 
exchange  a  word.  And  though  he  had 
nothing  whatever  to  say,  yet  such  is  the 
nature  of  youth  that  he  heartily  wished 


Fausta.  175 

himself  back  in  Spain.  The  young  girl 
that  lived  there  over  the  way  he  would 
have  hailed  as  life's  full  delight,  and  two 
or  three  of  her  scrappy  letters,  which 
through  some  oversight  he  had  neglected 
to  turn  into  cigarette-lighters,  he  set  to  work 
to  decipher  anew.  The  writer  of  them  was 
an  ethereal  young  person  with  a  pretty 
taste  for  fine  sentiments,  and  as  Ruis  pos 
sessed  himself  of  the  candors  of  her 
thought,  he  very  much  wished  that  he 
could  kneel  immediately  at  her  feet. 

From  the  early  forenoon  until  the  sun 
has  begun  to  set  it  is  not  at  all  agreeable, 
or  prudent  either,  for  the  unacclimated  to 
be  astir  in  that  part  of  the  planet  in  which 
Don  Jayme's  hacienda  was  situated.  But 
the  mornings  are  mellow  indeed,  the  dusk 
is  languorous  in  its  beauty,  and  as  for  the 
nights,  none  others  in  all  the  world  can 


176  Fausta. 

compare  with  them.  The  stars  are  as 
lilies  set  in  parterres  of  indigo.  In  the 
air  is  a  perfume  and  a  caress. 

And  Ruis,  out  of  sheer  laziness,  made 
the  most  of  the  dusk  and  the  early  hours. 
At  sunrise  he  was  on  horseback  scouring 
the  country,  now  over  the  red  road  in  the 
direction  of  the  town,  and  again  across 
the  savannas,  past  cool  thin  streams  and 
ravines  that  were  full  of  shadow,  mystery, 
and  green.  And  when  the  sun  had  lost  its 
ardor  he  would  be  off  again,  and  return  in 
company  with  the  moon.  As  a  rule  he 
met  but  few  people,  sometimes  a  man  or 
two  conveying  garden  produce  to  the  sea 
port,  sometimes  women  with  eggs  and 
poultry,  now  and  then  a  negro,  and  once  a 
priest.  But  practically  the  roads  were  un 
frequented,  and  without  incident  or  sur 
prise. 


Faust  a.  177 

One  morning,  however,  as  his  horse  was 
bearing  him  homeward,  he  caught  sight  of 
an  object  moving  in  the  distance.  At  first 
he  fancied  that  it  might  be  one  of  the  men 
he  was  wont  to  meet,  but  soon  he  saw  that 
it  was  a  woman,  and  as  he  drew  nearer  he 
noticed  that  she  was  young,  and,  in  a  mo 
ment,  that  she  was  fair  to  see.  By  her 
side  stood  a  horse.  The  saddle  was  on  the 
ground,  and  she  was  busying  herself  with 
the  girth.  At  his  approach  she  turned  her 
head.  Her  mouth  was  like  a  pomegranate 
filled  with  pearls ;  her  face  was  without 
color,  innocent  of  the  powdered  egg-shells 
with  which  Cuban  damsels  and  dames 
whiten  their  cheeks ;  and  in  her  eyes  was 
an  Orient  of  dreams.  She  was  lithe  and 
graceful,  not  tall ;  perhaps  sixteen.  About 
her  waist  a  crimson  sash  was  wound  many 
times,  her  gown  was  of  gray  Catalonian 

12 


178  Fausta. 

calico,  and  her  sandalled  feet  were  stock- 
ingless. 

"A  Creole,"  thought  Ruis ;  and  raising 
his  right  hand  to  the  left  side  of  his  broad- 
brimmed  hat,  he  made  it  describe  a  mag 
nificent  parabola  through  the  air,  and  as 
he  replaced  it,  bowed. 

"Your  servant,  Senorita,"  he  said. 

"  And  yours,  Don  Ruis,"  she  replied. 

"  You  know  my  name,  Sefiorita  !  May  I 
ask  how  you  are  called  ?  " 

"  I  am  called  Fausta,"  she  answered ; 
and  as  she  spoke  Ruis  caught  in  her  voice 
an  accent  unknown  to  the  Madridlenes 
of  his  acquaintance,  the  accent  of  the 
New  World,  abrupt,  disdainful  of  sibilants, 
and  resolute.  He  dismounted  at  once. 

"  You     have     had    an    accident,    Dona   ' 
Fausta  ;   let  me  aid  you." 

But  the  girth  was  beyond  aid  ;  it  was  old 


Fausta,  179 

and  had  worn  itself  in  twain.  And  as  he 
examined  it  he  noticed  that  the  saddle  was 
not  of  the  kind  that  women  prefer. 

"  It  is  needless,  Don  Ruis.  See,  it  is  an 
easy  matter."  And  with  that  she  unwound 
her  crimson  girdle,  and  in  a  moment,  with 
dextrous  skill,  she  removed  the  broken 
girth,  replaced  the  saddle  on  the  horse,  and 
bound  it  to  him  with  the  sash.  "  But  I 
thank  you,"  she  added,  gravely. 

Ruis  was  a  little  sceptical  about  the  se 
curity  of  this  arrangement,  and  that  scep 
ticism  he  ventured  to  express.  But  the 
girl  was  on  the  horse,  unassisted,  before  he 
had  finished  the  sentence. 

"  Have  no  fears,  Don  Ruis.  Besides, 
our  house  is  but  a  little  bird's  flight  from 
here.  I  could  have  walked,  if  need  were." 

Ruis  remounted.  "  May  I  not  accom 
pany  you  ?  "  he  asked. 


180  Fausta. 

"  To-morrow,"  she  answered  ;  and  for  the 
first  time  she  smiled.  For  to-morrow  in  a 
Cuban  mouth  means  anything  except  what 
it  expresses.  And  as  she  said  it,  Ruis 
smiled  too. 

"  How  do  you  know  my  name  ?  "  he  in 
quired. 

"  We — my  mother  and  I — we  are  your 
neighbors." 

"  Ah,  Dona  Fausta,  in  that  case,  I  pray 
you  make  my  duty  to  the  lady  your  mother, 
and  beg  of  her  a  permission  that  I  may  do 
so  myself." 

Again  she  smiled.  "To-morrow,"  she 
lisped,  and  whipped  her  horse. 

Ruis  raised  his  hat  as  before,  and 
bowed. 

"  God  be  with  you,  Dona  Fausta." 

"  And  with  you,  Don  Ruis." 

The    next   morning  he  was  on  the  red 


Fausta.  181 

road  again,  but  no  maiden  in  distress  was 
discoverable  that  day.  The  sun  chased 
him  home,  and  as  he  lounged  through  high 
noon  in  the  cool  of  the  veranda,  he  mar 
velled  at  his  earlier  boredom.  Later  on 
he  sent  for  one  of  the  overseers  and  ques 
tioned  him  minutely.  Whatever  informa 
tion  he  may  have  gleaned,  it  was  presum 
ably  satisfactory.  He  watched  the  sun 
expire  in  throes  of  crimson  and  gamboge, 
and  night  unloose  her  leash  of  stars. 
Then  he  took  horse  again,  and,  aided  by 
information  received,  in  ten  minutes  he  was 
at  Dona  Fausta's  door.  It  was  a  shabby 
door,  he  noticed,  the  portal  of  a  still 
shabbier  abode,  and  even  in  the  starlight 
he  divined  that  if  ever  wealth  had  passed 
that  way,  it  had  long  since  taken  flight. 
The  noise  of  hoofs  brought  the  girl  to  the 
porch. 


1 82  Fausta. 

"  At  your  feet,  Dona  Fausta,"  he  said, 
and  raised  his  hat.  "  I  am  come  to  offer 
my  homage  to  the  lady  your  mother,  and 
to  you,  if  I  may." 

"  Who  is  it  ?  "  called  a  voice  from  within  ; 
and  then,  for  ampler  satisfaction  of  the 
inquiry,  a  lean  old  woman,  gray  of  hair, 
unkempt,  wrinkled,  and  bent,  appeared  in 
the  doorway  and  fastened  on  Ruis  two 
glittering,  inquisitorial  eyes. 

"  The  son  of  Don  Jayme,"  the  girl  an 
swered  ;  "  he  wishes  you  well."  With  a 
perfectly  perceptible  shrug  the  woman 
turned  and  disappeared. 

"  She  has  suffered  much,"  the  girl  ex 
plained.  "  Don  Ruis,  you  are  welcome." 

Ruis  dismounted  and  gave  the  horse  a 
lash  with  his  whip.  "  It  will  be  pleasant 
to  walk  back,"  he  said,  as  the  horse  started. 
"  Mariquita  can  find  her  way  home  un- 


Fansta.  183 

guided."  He  smiled  ;  he  was  pleased  with 
himself :  and  the  girl  smiled  too.  "  Tell 
me,"  he  added,  "  do  you  live  here  always?  " 

"  Always,  Don  Ruis." 

"  Ah,  you  should  come  to  Spain.  You 
would  love  Madrid,  and  more  than  Madrid 
would  you  love  Grenada  and  Seville.  San 
tiago  is  a  little,  a  very  little,  like  Seville. 
You  go  there  often,  do  you  not  ?  " 

"  But  seldom,  Don  Ruis." 

"  To  the  fiestas,  surely." 

"  To  go  to  the  fiestas  one  needs  a  brave 
gown,  and  I  have  none." 

"  I,"  said  Ruis,  "  I  am  tired  of  fiestas, 
and  truly  at  Santiago  they  cannot  be  very 
grand.  After  all,  you  miss  little.  Ah, 
Dona  Fausta,  you  should  see  them  in 
Spain.  And,"  he  continued,  in  a  tone  that 
was  almost  a  whisper,  "  you  should  let 
Spain  see  you." 


184  Faust  a. 

In  this  wise  the  two  young  people  talked 
together.  And  when  the  fractions  of  an 
hour  had  passed  them  by  unmarked,  the 
old  woman  appeared  again  on  the  porch, 
and  Ruis  withdrew.  On  reaching  the 
hacienda  he  went  to  the  room  which  he 
occupied,  and  tore  into  bits  the  scrappy 
letters  of  his  Madridlene.  "  To  the 
deuce,"  he  muttered,  as  he  stretched  him 
self  out  beneath  the  mosquito  netting,  "  to 
the  deuce  with  thin  women  and  the  com 
munion  of  souls." 

The  day  following  Ruis  did  not  venture 
to  make  a  second  visit,  but  he  loitered  on 
the  red  road  both  in  the  clear  forenoon 
and  in  the  slumbering  dusk  ;  but  he  loitered 
in  vain.  On  the  morrow  his  success  was 
not  greater :  yet  on  the  succeeding  day  his 
heart  gave  an  exultant  throb  ;  she  was 
there.  It  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  be 


fans  fa.  185 

verbose.  His  manner  was  caressing  as 
the  air,  and  her  eyes  were  eloquent,  almost 
as  eloquent  as  his  own.  Before  they 
parted  they  had  agreed  upon  a  tryst,  a  spot 
wholly  sheltered  by  cedars  and  tamarinds, 
through  which  a  brook  ran,  and  where  ten 
drils  with  a  thousand  coils  embraced  the 
willing  trees  as  would  they  smother  them 
with  flowers.  And  there  each  day  they 
met.  Love  with  them  was  like  the  sumpt 
uous  vegetation  in  which  they  moved — 
swift  of  growth.  To  Ruis,  Fausta  was  the 
most  perfect  of  playmates,  a  comrade  that 
each  day  brought  him  some  fresh  surprise. 
She  was  at  once  naive  and  imperious,  do 
cile  and  self-willed.  He  noticed  that  she 
was  friends  with  the  mimosa,  for  once, 
when  she  touched  the  sensitive  leaves,  they 
did  not  shrink,  the  timidity  was  gone. 
And  once,  when  she  spoke  of  her  father, 


1 86  Fausta. 

who  had  been  shot  as  a  conspirator,  her 
anger  was  like  a  storm  on  the  coast,  glori 
ous  and  terrible  to  behold.  She  was  sweet 
indeed,  yet  heat  sugar  and  abruptly  it 
boils.  To  Fausta,  Ruis  was  present  and 
future  besides.  As  for  the  past  she  had 
none  save  in  so  far  as  it  had  been  a  prepa 
ration  for  him.  He  had  told  her  that  she 
should  be  countess,  though  for  that  she 
cared  nothing,  except  that  in  being  coun 
tess  she  would  be  his  wife  as  well.  And 
so  over  constant  meetings  two  months  went 
by.  In  their  Eden,  Ruis  at  first  was  usu 
ally  the  earliest  to  arrive,  and  when  he 
heard  her  footfall  he  would  hasten  to  meet 
her  and  hold  her  in  his  arms. 

"Speak  to  me,  Fausta,"  he  would  say; 
"  I  love  your  voice  :  look  at  me  ;  I  love 
your  eyes.  How  fair  love  is  when  we 
are  together  and  alone !  Is  it  not  ex- 


Fausta.  187 

quisite  to  speak  of  love  when  all  else  is 
still  ?  " 

And  Fausta,  waist-encircled,  would  an 
swer,  "  Ruis,  I  love  you ;  I  need  to  see  you, 
to  see  you  again,  and  always.  When  you 
leave  me  it  is  as  though  I  fell  asleep,  to 
reawake  only  at  your  return." 

It  was  with  this  duo  and  its  infinite  vari 
ations  that  they  charmed  two  months  away. 
To  Ruis,  at  first,  no  other  months  of  all 
his  life  had  been  so  fertile  in  delight.  To 
Fausta  they  were  not  months,  but  dreams 
fulfilled. 

Meanwhile,  Don  Jayme  had  not  been 
idle.  He  had  been  much  in  Puerto 
Principe,  and  he  had  made  two  journeys  to 
Havana.  Now  from  Santiago  to  Havana 
the  distance  is  600  miles,  and  Don  Jayme 
was  not  a  man  to  undertake  such  a  journey 
without  due  and  sufficient  cause.  Be  this 


1 88  Fausta. 

as  it  may,  it  so  happened  that  after  his  sec 
ond  visit  to  the  capital  he  enjoyed  a  mem 
orable  interview  with  his  son.  To  him  he 
had  as  yet  said  nothing  of  his  plans,  but  on 
this  occasion  he  made  no  secret  of  them. 

"Ruis,"  he  said,  leisurely,  with  the  air  of 
one  engaging  in  conversation  solely  for 
conversation's  sake,  "you  know  the  House 
of  Sandoval  ? " 

"  Surely  :  we  are  more  or  less  related. 
A  hundred  years  ago  an  Ixar  married  a 
Sandoval — " 

"  Of  the  younger  branch,  however.  We 
do  not  bear  their  arms." 

"  There  was  no  bluer  blood  in  all 
Castile." 

"  No,  nor  yet  in  Aragon.  Don  Jorge  is 
in  Havana." 

"  Don  Jorge  of  Sandoval  !  I  thought 
him  dead." 


Fausta.  189 

"  His  credit  was,  but  that  has  since  re 
vived.  He  came  to  Cuba  the  year  before 
I  came  myself.  I  am  little  richer  now 
than  then,  but  he  has  garnered  millions." 

"Ah!" 

"Yes,  millions — three  at  least.  In  the 
Convent  of  Our  Lady  del  Pilar  is  his 
daughter,  Dona  Clarisa.  We  have  agreed 
that  you  and  she  should  wed." 

Ruis  laughed.  "  To-rnorrow,"  he  an 
swered  ;  "  I  am  not  in  haste  for  matri 
mony  ;  "  and  laughed  again. 

"  Ruis,  Don  Jorge  and  I,  we  have 
agreed."  There  was  something  in  the 
father's  face  that  banished  the  merriment 
of  the  son.  "  This  night  we  leave  for 
Havana.  See  to  it  that  you  are  in  readi 
ness." 

In  his  perplexity  Ruis  twisted  a  ciga 
rette. 


i  go  Fausta. 

"  Have  you  understood  me  ? "  Don 
Jayme  asked.  "  In  a  month  we  shall  be 
in  Spain.  You  will  like  to  be  back  there, 
will  you  not  ? "  he  continued,  in  suaver 
tones.  "  You  will  like  to  be  back  there, 
rich,  and — and  the  husband  of  a  beautiful 
girl.  Eh,  my  son  ?  You  will  like  that, 
will  you  not  ?  Ruis,  see,  it  is  for  you. 
You  are  all  I  have.  It  was  for  you  I  came 
here  ;  it  was  for  you  I  made  this  match. 
For  myself,  nothing  matters.  I  have  had 
my  day.  It  is  in  you  I  live,  in  you 
only;  and  in  our  name  to  which  this 
marriage  will  give  a  new  and  needed 
lustre." 

"  And  you  say  we  leave  to-night  ? " 

Don  Jayme  nodded. 

"That  will  be  difficult.  H'm."  He 
hesitated,  and  as  he  hesitated  his  father 
looked  inquiringly  at  him.  "It  is  this: 


Fausta.  191 

there  is  one  here  who  thinks  that  name  is 
to  be  hers." 

"  Then  does  she  flatter  herself.  Who  is 
she  ? " 

"  A  neighbor." 

"Bah!  the  Fausta?  The  Fausta  is  it? 
Had  Fausta  been  a  negress  Don  Jayme 
could  not  have  displayed  greater  contempt. 
"Why,  the  Fausta  is  a  Creole,  the  daugh 
ter  of  a  highwayman." 

"  Father,  she  is  a  flower." 

"  Of  which  you  have  enjoyed  the  per 
fume.  Dona  Clarisa  is  a  bouquet.  The 
change  should  be  pleasant.  Come,  Ruis, 
prepare  yourself ;  in  an  hour  we  must 
start." 

"  I  have  given  my  word." 

Don  Jayme  coughed  and  examined  his 
tapering,  yellow  fingers.  "  Then  get  it 
back,"  he  said  at  last. 


192  fausta. 

"  Ah  yes,  but  how." 

Don  Jayme  coughed  again  and  shrugged 
his  shoulders.  Then  suddenly  he  filliped 
his  forefinger  and  thumb  together  as  were 
he  counting  coin.  "  Send  for  your  horse, 
Ruis.  I  will  attend  to  that."  When  Ruis 
returned  Don  Jayme  placed  two  small  yet 
heavy  bags  before  him.  "Offer  one,"  he 
said  ;  "  it  is  ample.  But  should  she  play 
the  difficult,  then  give  the  other  too.  And 
Ruis,  the  road  is  not  always  safe ;  are  you 
armed  ?  At  least  take  this  dagger.  There, 
I  had  forgotten ;  that  there  may  be  no 
complications,  get  a  receipt." 

Ruis  stuck  the  dirk  in  his  belt  and 
placed  the  bags  in  the  holster.  His  father 
stood  watching  him  on  the  veranda.  "  I 
will  wait  for  you  here,"  he  said,  as  Ruis 
mounted  ;  "  do  not  be  long."  And  as  the 
young  man  touched  the  horse  with  his 


Fans  fa.  193 

heel,  lie  called  out,  "  I  count  on  you, 
Ruis."  He  waved  his  hand  to  him  lov 
ingly.  He  was  in  great  good  spirits;  the 
goal  to  which  for  five  years  he  had  striven 
was  full  in  sight. 

And  Ruis  from  the  saddle  answered, 
"  Count  on  your  gold,  Don  Jayme." 

In  a  moment  he  was  out  of  sight,  gallop 
ing  down  the  road,  with  only  stars  and  fire- 
flys  to  light  the  way.  But  of  the  road  the 
horse  knew  every  inch.  And  as  Ruis 
galloped  he  thought  of  Madrid  and  its 
allurements,  of  the  corrida  and  its  emo 
tions,  of  the  Dofia  Clarisa  that  was  to  be 
his,  and  of  other  donas  that  he  would 
meet.  The  future  certainly  was  very 
bright.  As  for  the  present,  it  was  not 
entirely  to  his  liking.  There  was  an  awk 
ward  five  minutes  to  pass,  but  once  passed 
he  would  shake  the  red  dust  from  him  and 
13 


1 94  Fa  ust a. 

never  set  foot  on  that  road  again.  Fausta, 
truly,  had  been  very  sweet,  and  she  had 
beguiled  for  him  many  and  many  an  other 
wise  wearisome  hour.  But  she  was  like 
the  fruit,  which  on  arriving  he  had  rel 
ished.  She  had  lost  her  savor.  I  will  give, 
her  the  gold,  he  thought,  the  gold  and  a 
kiss.  The  gold  will  serve  for  dower  and 
the  kiss  for  farewell. 

So  mused  Don  Ruis.  He  had  reached 
her  door,  and,  as  before,  at  the  noise  of 
hoofs  she  came  out  with  a  welcome. 

"Ah,  Ruis,"  she  murmured,  "I  have 
watched  for  you  the  entire  day.  This 
morning  I  went  to  our  Eden,  and  again 
this  afternoon.  Where  were  you  ?  Ruis, 
I  caught  a  butterfly,  it  was  like  a  winged 
acacia,  and  I  gathered  the  jasmines  you 
like,  and  waited,  but  you  did  not  come. 
My  Ruis,  I  thought  you  ill  perhaps,  yet 


Fausta,  195 

everything  was  so  fair  and  still  I  knew 
you  could  not  be  but  well.  And,  Ruis,  as 
I  was  leaving,  a  yellow-breast  began  to 
sing.  He  seemed  to  bring  a  message  from 
you.  I  know  it  novy,  it  was  that  you 
would  come  to-night.  Ruis,  forgive  my 
foolish  words,  it  is  because  my  heart  is  full 
of  love  for  you.  But  why  do  you  not  dis 
mount  ?  Come,  we  will  stroll  there  be 
neath  the  stars.  Do  you  know,  Ruis,  with 
you  I  am  so  happy  there  are  moments 
when  I  could  die  of  joy.  But  why  do  you 
not  speak  to  me  ?  Is  it  the  night  ?  My 
Ruis,  your  face  seems  changed." 

"  Fausta,  I  have  come  to  say  good 
bye." 

"  Good-bye  ?     Ruis,  you  jest.' 

"  No.  Fausta,  it  is  not  jest.  Don  Jayme 
and  I  return  to  Spain." 

"  To  Spain  !     It  cannot  be  !     You  said 


196  faiista. 

that  when  you  went,  \ve  both  should  go ; 
that  I  should  be  your  wife." 

"  Don  Jayme  has  found  another  for  me." 
"  And  what  of  your  word,  Don  Ruis  ?  " 
"There,   Fausta,    it    is    painful    enough. 
Were  it  not  for  Don  Jayme,  you  know — 
naturally,  you  know — you  know  very  well 
what  I  would  do.      But   see,   what   would 
you  ?     It  is  painful,  indeed." 

"  Painful  ?  Painful  to  whom  ?  Not  to 
Don  Jayme,  nor  seemingly  to  you." 

"  Ah,  but  it  is ;  and  see,  I  have  brought 
you  this,  and  this  too."  He  took  the  bags 
from  the  holster  and  held  them  to  her. 
Yet  she  made  no  motion  to  take  them. 
She  stepped  back  a  little,  and  to  the  mid 
night  of  her  eyes  came  a  sudden  flash. 
"  How  much  is  in  them,"  he  continued,  "  I 
do  not  know,  but  it  must  be  like  St.  Peter's 
pence  ;  you  can  see  " — and  he  affected  a 


Faust  a.  197 

little  laugh — "  they  are  not  light  to  hold. 
Truly  they  must  represent  a  pretty  dower, 
for  Don  Jayme  said — for  pleasantry,  no 
doubt — '  Ruis,  you  will  do  well  to  get  an 
acknowledgment.'  " 

"  Ruis  !  He  called  you  Ruis  !  Your 
name  is  Judas.'"  The  girl's  face  was  al 
ways  white,  but  now  it  was  whiter  than  the 
moon.  The  red  had  left  her  lips,  and  her 
voice,  which  had  been  melodious  as  the 
consonance  of  citherns  and  guitars,  grew 
abruptly  harsh  and  strident.  She  was 
trembling  from  head  to  foot. 

"  But  will  you  not  take  them  ?  "  he  asked, 
referring  to  the  bags  of  money  which,  awk 
wardly  enough,  he  still  held  out  to  her. 

"  Get  back,  Spaniard,  into  the  night 
from  which  you  came.  I  gave  you  love, 
you  bring  me  gold.  I  gave  my  trust,  you 
ask  a  receipt.  You  shall  have  it."  She 


1 98  Faust  a. 

had  moved  forward  near  to  him  again,  and 
glared  in  his  face. 

"  But  if  you  refuse  the  gold,  what,"  he 
asked,  almost  piteously,  "  what  can  I 
give  ?  " 

"  Nothing  save  this  dirk." 

And  before  the  intention  could  have 
been  divined,  she  tore  the  dagger  from  his 
belt  and  sheathed  it  in  his  heart. 

"  There  is  my  receipt,"  she  cried. 

The  bags  fell  heavily  to  the  ground, 
and  of  one  of  them  the  canvas  burst  open 
and  scattered  the  contents  on  the  ground. 
Ruis  would  have  fallen  too,  but  with  one 
steadying  hand  she  held  him  on  the  saddle, 
and  with  the  other  unwound  her  scarlet 
sash.  In  a  moment's  time  she  had  tied 
him  fast ;  then  she  gave  the  affrighted 
horse  a  blow  and  stepped  aside.  And  as 
she  did  so  the  horse  veered  and  rushed  up 


Fausta.  199 

the  road,  bearing  the  lifeless  Ruis,  bound 
as  Mazeppa  was,  with  the  dagger  still  in 
his  heart,  to  the  father  who  waited  his 
return. 

For  a  little  space  she  listened  to  the 
sound  of  retreating  hoofs.  She  was 
trembling  still. 

On  the  porch  the  old  woman  had  tot 
tered  out.  "  What  was  it  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Death." 

"Are  Maria  purissima!"  croned  the 
hag. 

And  the  girl,  turning  her  back  to  the 
darkness  in  which  the  horse  had  vanished, 
answered,  as  is  the  custom,  "  Who  con 
ceived  without  sin." 

Fausta"  re-entered  the  house,  but  her 
mother  loitered  on  the  porch.  The  next 
morning  the  gold  had  disappeared. 


*&Ksf        tt^Wjp 

ib&Ju  wyb&  a  vV 

vV^O/^^  ^ 

*-    «•  *.\ 


•^tft^  T'K  i»     's* 

.  ».}«f-w  /    '*•         -^?-       It 

**        4MS*^'          '-<•    i      X?'' 


